The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals wants San Francisco's Animal Control and Welfare Commission to stop food sales of certain live animals. The commission has delayed a vote until next month. Chinese merchants say live animal sales are a Chinese cultural tradition. But the SPCA charges the practice is cruel, and says chickens, fish and turtles suffer unnecessarily in Chinatown markets.
Merchants defend the sales, saying they comply with food-handling laws.
Shopkeeper Mitella Kung cited examples of the humane treatment her father's game birds and chickens receive. Fisherman's Wharf Arnold Chin, a leader in the Chinese community, said some people may misunderstand how some animals need to be cared for. Chin maintains that animal activists are unfairly targeting Chinese vendors while ignoring other live-animal vendors. Fishermen, for example, sell live shellfish packed together in huge bins. And on San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf, street vendors boil shellfish alive.