San Francisco Switches Targets From Foreskins to Fish

From the same city that debated banning circumcision and will now allow voters to decide that issue in November, comes a new waste of time for government workers.

NBC's San Francisco affiliate is reporting that the Animal Control and Welfare Division has suggested that San Francisco place a ban on the sales of goldfish, tropical fish, and guppies within the borders of the city.

San Francisco Chronicle reporters Matier and Ross lead with this story yesterday, and explained the blanket ban is actually aimed at "impulse buys" and the supposed inhumane conditions found in fish tanks:

San Francisco's ever-active Animal Control and Welfare Commission has renewed its push for a pet sale ban in the city - only this time, it even covers goldfish.

The idea is to put the squeeze on puppy and kitten mills that supply pet stores, and to discourage "impulse buys" of hamsters and other small pets that often wind up being dumped at shelters.

But goldfish, guppies and tropical fish?

"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.

The item to notice here: someone has been studying this for a year!  The Animal Control and Welfare division has been digging into the breeding and harvesting details about GOLDFISH. That's a great use of taxpayer dollars.

Additionally, the idea that animals are raised in inhumane conditions always amazes me, especially when it is used to reference wild animals. Of course animals are not treated like humans. Especially fish -- creatures that cannot live outside of water.

The team over at "Fox and Friends" talked about the ridiculous issue this morning:

This is also not the first time the Animal Control folks have wandered into some murky turf. The Chronicle story also points out:

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.

At least SF passed on the previous recommendation to provide birth control for pigeons. Could it be that a tiny seed of sanity is taking root in out in the West? (Let us wait and see what happens with the vote on goldfish.)