Skinned amphibians are stacked up like frog-shaped globs of pale pink jelly. And local leaders take the politically expedient position of doing essentially nothing. The Asian community feels like it's a cultural issue, and that the animal-rights activists are insensitive to their culture. After a string of legal and political victories for markets in San Francisco, where the war has raged hotter than anywhere else, one California legislator has introduced a bill which would, if passed, clearly define what constitutes animal cruelty in such markets. But early on, public opinion quickly turned against the activists when media-savvy Asian business owners charged them with cultural insensitivity.
Activists say they have, but that conditions in live-animal markets are much worse.
San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals' Nathan Winograd doesn't buy the racism charges. Even Chinatown isn't united on the issue. Vicky Lynn of Asians for Humans, Animals and Nature vehemently refutes any cultural-insensitivity arguments. The animal advocates insist they are just trying to make the markets obey the same animal-cruelty laws that everyone else follows, regardless of cultural heritage. Those still alive were skinned with the others.