They are simply demanding that animals killed for food must be housed and slaughtered humanely according to existing law. In 1997, San Francisco attorney Baron Miller, acting on behalf of a coalition of animal rights groups, sought an injunction against 12 Chinatown merchants selling live seafood and poultry. The lawsuit was filed as a last resort after animal activists failed to convince the Board of Supervisors to regulate the live animal markets, this despite the fact that the Board's advisory panel, the San Francisco Commission of Animal Control and Welfare, had recommended banning all live animal sales two years earlier. In Chinatown shopes, live turtles are hacked apart limb by limb and their shells are cut off shell while the animal is still alive. Chickens, frogs, and doves are suffocated by stuffing them into plastic bags.
Frogs are clubbedand skinned alive.
Meanwhile, along the city's colorful Fisherman's Wharf, live lobsters are routinely tossed live into the scalding waters of lobster pots. According to Chinese-American veterinarian Dr. Lexie Endo, turtles sold in live animal markets carry salmonella and pasteurella bacteria, both potentially fatal to humans. The philosophies of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism oppose animal cruelty. It was signed by Chinatown merchants, activists and the Chinese Six Companies. The compromise prohibited selling injured or diseased animals, storing animals in cramped conditions, and removing feathers, skin and shell while the animal is still alive.