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San Francisco Considers Ban On All Pet Sales
Hugh Pickens writes "The LA Times reports that the Humane Pet Acquisition Proposal is on its way to the Board of Supervisors of San Francisco. It would ban the sale of any animal that walks, flies, swims, crawls or slithers — unless you plan to eat it. Representatives of the $45-billion to $50-billion-a-year pet industry call the San Francisco proposal 'by far the most radical ban we've seen' nationwide and argue that it would force small operators to close. Animal activists say it will save small but important lives, along with taxpayer money, and end needless suffering. 'From Descartes on up, in the Western mindset, fish and other nonhuman animals don't have feelings, they don't have emotions, we can do whatever we want to them,' says Philip Gerrie, coauthor of the proposal. 'If we considered them living beings, we would deal with them differently.'"
What lives will it save? Without the pet industry, these animals would never be born.
A guppy has feelings but a fetus doesn't? And I am not for making abortion illegal but I am a fan of truth and logic. What about sea monkeys? Will people with fish now still have the option to buy live life food for them like brine shrimp?
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
Fuck off.
Sincerely,
Animal Lovers.
Seriously, I get really tired of these dumbshit activists that think that pets somehow have a horrible life and if all animals just roamed free they would be so much better off. I think the problem is they watch Disney movies and believe that is how the wild actually is: Animals living together in harmony and having the best of time. I think these people need to take a trip to Africa and see nature in all its brutal Darwinian glory. Nothing dies of old age there, they just get older and slower until something eats them.
Sorry, but I think my house cat has a much better life. He gets to lay around all day, safe from weather and predators, he eats when he wants, gets attention lavished on him, and has access to medical care to handle his problems (asthma in his case).
Pets bring a lot of joy to humans, and it isn't bad for the pets. They have their needs met in a way they'd never get in the wild.
They're going to outlaw gerbil sales in San Francisco?
"and spoiler her mercilessly"
She probably didn't appreciate when you told her that Darth Vader was Luke';s father, before "The Empire...:" came out.
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
In San Francisco, and other so called 'liberal' bastions, laws are not created to give people the freedoms to live the life that they choose, they are created to radically socially engineer a population according to specific mores that the 'elites' prefer. So if the elites are tree-hugging PETA members, then they want to fashion society in that image, regardless of the hypocracy and stupidity it causes. One could say that all social engineering is applying a first order linear model to a chaotic system and then crying about how the results don't work.
How this is different than theocracy, I don't know.
OK, I plan on eating my dog. Sell me a dog. What, are they going to make an additional law saying that you must eat your pets if you say you will? How about a law saying that pets must be stamped with a "best before" date? Or here's one, make it so you have to eat your pet in public or better yet, slaughter the animal when the credit card is swiped.
These legislators are stupid. Their state is completely broke, yet they have time to dream up bullshit like this. Congratulations on putting pet stores out of business (although surprisingly I'm sure that big-box pet food/supply retailers will be just fine) and causing people to travel out of state to buy their animals. Here's a tip. If puppy mills are a problem (and they can be), then GO AFTER THE DAMNED PUPPY MILLS.
I bought my dog at a pet store because no breeder currently had her breed. Yes, perhaps she came from a puppy mill. But she's the happiest dog in the world now (despite my sig) and I certainly wouldn't exchange her for any other dog now that we've gotten to know each other.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Those advocating the ban need to speak with some archeologists and evolutionary anthropologists before making their decisions. These experts now believe that cats and dogs adopted humans as companions, and not the other way around. With cats, agrarian life led to grain storage, which attracted rodents, and some kitties evolved to play nice with humans in order to access all the tasty mice in human settlements. For dogs I don't remember the whole story off-hand.
It was a valid evolutionary step for many animals to prefer and enjoy the company of people; banning pet "ownership" merely leaves dozens of cat and dog sub-species without their proper habitat and social environment.
I read this aloud to my wife, and our 10lb yorkie-poo dog just walked over to me and said "If those goddamn animal activist hippies think they're going to make me live outdoors, they're fucking crazy."
Then he took his surgically-fixed knee, went back to his comfortable place on his knitted afghan in our predator free air-conditioned home, stopping by for a bite of nutritionally-balanced dog food and a sip of parasite-free drinking water, and proceeded to fall back asleep for his 20-hours-out-of-every-24 rest pattern.
-Styopa
From Descartes on up, in the Western mindset, fish and other nonhuman animals don't have feelings, they don't have emotions, we can do whatever we want to them,' says Philip Gerrie, coauthor of the proposal.
Hey, uh, Mr. Gerrie... that is the western mindset, yes, but, uh... look where you are buddy.
Multiple choice: In terms of which hemisphere it is, what the mindset is there, where it is in the US, and which coast it is on, where is San Francisco?
A. North B. South C.East D. West
Is this guy so loony that to him "Western mindset" is an indictment of some thought in and of itself? "Oh that's how we think in the UNITED STATES, so obviously that's the dumbest possible mindset." Is that what's going on here? "If we considered them living beings, we would deal with them differently." Yeah, but we don't, so why are you acting like we do or should?
In San Francisco, and other so called 'liberal' bastions, laws are not created to give people the freedoms to live the life that they choose, they are created to radically socially engineer a population according to specific mores that the 'elites' prefer. So if the elites are tree-hugging PETA members, then they want to fashion society in that image, regardless of the hypocracy and stupidity it causes. One could say that all social engineering is applying a first order linear model to a chaotic system and then crying about how the results don't work.
How this is different than theocracy, I don't know.
Liberal bastions, eh? And how is this any different from those 'conservative' bastions that try to - for example - outlaw abortion?
"Work is the curse of the drinking classes." -Oscar Wilde
I guess it would end up like hermit crabs. Illegal to buy one, but you get one for free if you buy a cage. If there is a market people and the product is cheap, people will make it work.
Personally, I quit reading after this:
Snake food was almost exempt from the proposal. After all, pythons have to eat, and they like their lunch alive. But at a heated meeting, Commissioner Pam Hemphill questioned how it could be humane to sell live animals to be fed to other live animals.
At that point I can't help but think you've crossed a line somewhere and gone into some kind of pseudo-religion where it isn't nature on the throne but human ego. Animals gotta eat and they don't know a damned thing about this humane thing you keep talking about.
The problem is that dog "breeds" are so inbred that they often have serious medical conditions. Besides things like epilepsy and hip dysplasia, there are pugs and other short snout breeds often have breathing problems. Bull dogs are often delivered via cesarean because their heads are too big. Shar peis often have skin problems. Great Danes and other large breads die young because of heart problems. Most herding breeds develop neurological problems when not allowed to follow the instincts for which they have been bred.
Mutts are often much healthier and smarter than pure breads.
There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
Here's an idea. If you want to do that you could, you know, like, dude, ban factory farming of pets.
As a city legislature, you can only ban puppy mills within the city limits. That doesn't stop a pet store within your city limits from importing animals from out of state puppy mills (and in fact I'm reasonably certain there are no puppy mills within the 49 square miles of San Francisco, except perhaps pit bull breeding for illegal dog fighting). Most puppy mills are located in the Midwest -- Missouri, I'm looking at you. Similarly, a city can't pass laws regulating interstate commerce; in other words, there's nothing it can do to stop a pet store from buying from out of state puppy mills. The only thing the city can do that will prevent stores from buying from puppy mills is to ban pet stores, which is what the law proposes.
In my experience, few pet lovers in San Francisco buy purebred dogs as it is. There is a strong SPCA culture here, where I would say the majority of people adopt dogs and cats from shelters (or get kittens or puppies from friends).
If you really must have a specific breed, however, there's nothing stopping you from driving 20 minutes across the Bay Bridge to buy one. Hopefully, however, the law will make you think twice about whom you buy from, and that you'll be reminded to deal with breeders whose operations you've personally inspected and whose bona fides are sound.
Breakfast served all day!
Thank PETA. If you've ever been stupid enough to support PETA you need to understand they want to ban pet ownership. Yes Ban it. It's one of their top priorities.
PETA collects unwanted pets from owners and immediately kills them in the van they drove up in. This first came to light when someone found PETA illegally dumping lots of dead animals in someone's dumpster.
The Truth about PETA
PETA Trial Day 5: Deception and Tears
Shocking New Crime-Scene Photos
PETA's Shame
PETA Kills Pets | Seattle Dogspot