Go'Fish

Goldfish ("SanFranciscas Must Protectectus")

DATELINE:  JUNE 15, 2011
PLACE:        SAN FRANCISCO, CA
MISSION:     SAVE THE 'FISH OF GOLD'

ALERT HUMANS!  The San Francisco Animal Control Commission has just determined that it is wrong for YOU to purchase a pet anywhere in the city of San Francisco... 

Not kidding.  No, really - Seriously. 

WHY?  Because puppies, kittens, birds, turtles, and even goldfish can be bred in 'Puppy Mills' (I'm not sure how the cute fuzzy kittens, birds, and fish feel about being born in 'Puppy Mills'). 

The San Francisco Animal Control Commission says that pet purchases are 'impulse buys', and the nice folks at the SFACC do not want you to have any 'impulses'. 
Where were THEY when Anthony Weiner was getting into all that trouble a few weeks ago?

According to the SanFrancisco Chronicle Online: 

"Most fish in aquariums are either mass bred" under inhumane conditions "or taken from the wild," commission member Philip Gerrie said. That leads to "devastation of tropical fish from places like Southeast Asia," he said.

The proposed ban, which the commission just adopted after a year of study, was expanded to cover animal breeders as well as pet stores. As you might expect, it has local merchants like Ocean Aquarium owner Justin Hau dumbfounded.

"The city is taking more and more control," Hau said. "They are very stupid."
 ...
Commission President Sally Stephens, who opposed the ban because it would include small animal-breeding operations, says it's up to the Board of Supervisors to make the final call.

"All this is, is a recommendation," Stephens said.

Sometimes the supes act on the commission's recommendations, such as when they approved a ban on declawing cats. And sometimes they don't, such as when the animal panel suggested introducing birth control pills into birdseed to solve the city's pigeon problem.

A couple of questions here: 

• Phillip Gerrie (above, first highlight) says that fish are either bred, or taken from the wild.  So, if someone in San Francisco wanted to ever purchase a dog, cat, or fish, where would they have to go to get one?  The lab where they cloned that sheep?  Might not this be classified as inhumane also?  And if all your pets looked exactly alike, why bother?  You get two dogs who are exact copies of each other, what do you do, brand them to tell them apart?  Yeah, the folks running San Francisco are going to LOVE that option.
• They like the idea of de-clawing cats, but (second highlight) they also 'like' the idea of putting birth control pills into birdseed to solve the city's pigeon problem?  Yes, it's better for YOU to replace your furniture than it is for them to get 'pooped on' by the disrespectful errant pigeon.  They'd rather have all pigeons die out naturally without the opportunity to reproduce but YOU can't buy one miserable goldfish.  Yes, they've got some real nature-lovers out there in SanFrancisco!  

I hope no one gets the idea that those seals in the harbor are a distraction to the tourists or they'll have the San Francisco Animal Control Commissioners out on them docks with hefty pieces of lumber clubbing those baby seals - all in the name of 'humanity'. 

Enjoy your rights while you have them.  Little by little, rights have a tendency to fade away - especially when you're not looking at them. 

I'll leave you with this:  In a totally un-related story (it's from Illinois - land of Lincoln / Obama) a burglar kills a family's goldfish because...

He didn't want any witnesses to his 'crime'. 

Nope, not making this story up either.  Here's the link:  Burglar