Totalitarian San Francisco May Ban Pet Sales

Joe Eskanazi explains:

Mandatory composting.  No sodas in soda machines. And now -- no pets?

The resolution banning the sale of all pets in the city save for fish that is coming up for a vote tonight with the city's Commission of Animal Control and Welfare -- we've got one of those -- seems to have all the necessary components of being The Next Thing Out-Of-Towners Use To Compare San Francisco To A Totalitarian State. Well-meaning, obscure commissions? Check. Dubious execution? Check. Extreme heavy handedness? Check. An apparent disregard for independent businesses? Double-check.

This law -- which, mind you, would still need to be voted into reality by the Board of Supervisors, which is not an imminent possibility -- would affect the sale of just about every pet under the sun except fish. Yet, according to the animal shelter professionals quoted in today's Chronicle article, the real problem animals aren't dogs or cats but critters such as hamsters, which are often inexpensive impulse buys that face euthanization in area shelters.