Kinship Circle | Letter Campaigns

7/21/09: Cruelty For Sale At San Francisco Live Animal Markets

SOURCE OF INFORMATION / BACKGROUND

•  Live Chickens Sold in Sealed Bags by San Francisco Markets
•  Animal Abuse at San Francisco Farmers' Markets
•  Southern China Is Not the Only Source for Volatile Live Animal Markets
•  California Penal Code: Animal Welfare Provisions

LT TOP PHOTO:/ 4/8/09, A chicken manages to dislodge her head from a tiny cage packed with other birds. RT TOP PHOTO: This vendor (Chase Benton) was stuffing 8 partridges at a time into one bag.

OTHER PHOTOS: 6/7/09, The Animal Care and Control officer on duty refused to come to the market to investigate, even though vendors were violating instructions she previously gave to merchant Raymond Young.

These birds were in the sun with no water. Raymond Young was instructed by Animal Care and Control to not use plastic bags which block the animals' air supply — however, he is now supplying them to the customers to self-bag. ACC contends this is legal.

PHOTO SOURCE: LGBTCompassion.org is run by gay San Francisco Bay Area animal advocates, in affiliation with the non-profit organization Bay Area Vegetarians. Our mission is primarily to help animals (with a focus on farm animals, who suffer and are killed by the billions each year) and also to promote the many benefits of a plant-based diet to our community.

MORE LIVE-ANIMAL MARKET PHOTOS

TAKE ACTION With Contact Information + Sample Letter Below.

CONTACT INFORMATION + SAMPLE LETTER

CONTACT INFORMATION • Print/Send This Letter

MAIN SOURCE FOR CONTACTS / LINKS / VIDEO:
www.lgbtcompassion.org/livemarkets/livemarkets.htm

San Francisco District Attorney Kamala D. Harris
Criminal Division, Hall of Justice
850 Bryant Street, Room 322
San Francisco, CA 94103
email: jeffrey.a.ross@sfgov.org, erica.derryck@sfgov.org, districtattorney@sfgov.org
SOURCE: www.sfdistrictattorney.org

Commission of Animal Control and Welfare
Attn: Commission of Animal Control & Welfare
City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room 362
San Francisco, CA 94102
ph: 415-554-6074
SOURCE: www.sfgov.org/site/awcc_index.asp?id=1343

Department of Animal Care and Control
1200 15th Street; San Francisco, CA 94103
ph: 415-554-6364; fax 415-557-9950
email: ACC@sfgov.org, kat.brown@sfgov.org, rebecca.katz@sfgov.org
SOURCE: www.sfgov.org/site/acc_index.asp?id=4442"

San Francisco Department of Public Health
1390 Market St., Suite 210; San Francisco, CA 94102
ph: 415-252-3800; fax: 415-252-3875
email: richard.lee@sfdph.org, mitch.katz@sfdph.org, health.commission.dph@sfdph.org
SOURCE: www.sfdph.org/dph/EH/Contacts/default.asp

MARKET MANAGEMENT:
U.N. Plaza (Civic Center)
Christine Adams, Manager
The Heart of the City Farmers Market Community Advisory Board
1182 Market St. #412; San Francisco, CA 94102
ph: 415-558-9455; email: hocfarmersmarket@gmail.com

Amy Brown, Director of Real Estate
Real Estate Division City and County of San Francisco
25 Van Ness Ave., Ste. 400; San Francisco, CA 94102
email: amy.brown@sfgov.org

Alemany Blvd.
Reverend Rance Whiteside
Good Hope Baptist Church
551 Nevada St.; San Francisco, CA 94110
ph: 415-824-9662

EMAIL BLOCKS (all emails found for this alert) • Print/Send This Letter
• TO SEND: COPY/PASTE EMAIL BLOCKS INTO BCC: LINE OF YOUR EMAIL
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jeffrey.a.ross@sfgov.org, erica.derryck@sfgov.org, districtattorney@sfgov.org, ACC@sfgov.org, kat.brown@sfgov.org, rebecca.katz@sfgov.org, richard.lee@sfdph.org, mitch.katz@sfdph.org, health.commission.dph@sfdph.org, hocfarmersmarket@gmail.com, amy.brown@sfgov.org

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SAMPLE LETTER • Print/Send This Letter

TO: San Francisco District Attorney Kamala D. Harris; Commission of Animal Control & Welfare; Department of Animal Care and Control; San Francisco Department of Public Health; Market Managers

Please accept my comments regarding San Francisco's live animal vendors. I am dismayed the District Attorney has failed to prosecute merchants functioning in violation of state law. I understand a poultry exemption, listed exclusively under California Penal Code section 597.3, is cited as justification to do nothing — even as birds are routinely confined without water or shade, squashed upside-down in closed bags, thrown to the ground from trucks, and crushed inside filing-drawer size cages.

California Penal Code sections 597(a), 597(b), 597a, and 597t outlaw cruelty to all animals. I hope the District Attorney's office prosecutes violators and seeks maximum penalties as defined by complete law.

I respectfully urge the Commission of Animal Control and Welfare to direct Animal Care and Control and the DA to uphold cruelty laws. Additionally, please ensure enforcement of the California Food and Agriculture Code. Section 26602 requires those transporting poultry to bring proper records or face arrest without warrant. Why doesn't this Code apply to consumers who move live birds on public transit or inside car trunks for use in slaughter, religious sacrifice, or animal fighting?

I call upon the Department of Public Health to investigate live animal markets from a human safety perspective. Animals are ferried into restaurants, buses, rapid transit trains, and shared dwellings — often kept alive to be "fresh-killed" prior to meal preparation. Please impose regulations such as San Francisco's Health Code 050: "No live bird or fowl shall be kept or allowed in a food facility."

Lastly, I ask market management itself to consider the potential for personal liability in cases that involve illegal actions by their vendors. Unethical and law-breaking vendors should be banned from markets.

Cruelty is cruelty. Wrenching animals by their feet or wings is cruel. Audible cries of distress from animals indicate suffering. California law 599b identifies "animal" as "all dumb animals" and California Penal Code 597(b) specifies that "every person who causes any animal...to be tortured, tormented, deprived of necessary sustenance, drink, or shelter...is for every such offence, guilty of a crime."

San Francisco's live animal markets are disgraceful, but city officials have an opportunity to set a humane precedent. Thank you for your prompt attention to this disturbing matter.

Sincerely,

EASILY PERSONALIZE AND SEND COMMENTS NOW

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