The Petco judgment is quite juicy, thanks. I'd been unable to find that and
wondered what happened. I also wonder how well that's enforced (sneer).
Central Pet sounds like it does the same thing for the pet stores that
McKesson does for the retailers with pharmacies: gives them a single point
of contact for dozens or even hundreds of vendors. I would very much like to
find out how live animals are fit into this scheme.
(The bourbon being served here tonight is Blanton's single barrel.)
--VH
From: media-advisors-bounces@mickaboo.org
[mailto:media-advisors-bounces@mickaboo.org] On Behalf Of Elizabeth Young
Sent: Friday, August 06, 2010 6:45 PM
To: Mickaboo media advisor team
Subject: [Media-advisors] Fwd: Alternatives to the Ban Meeting
I'm back and yes, I do need a bourbon. Make it a double.
My notes are incomplete because sometimes I was just too dumbstruck to keep
writing. I'm going to share those bits that I did get down that I think
bear follow up.
Vinny's reconnaissance on Central Pet is exactly the sort of outcome I hope
will come from these notes as even typing them is perpetuating great
feelings of ickiness.
Jonathan- I invite and encourage you to correct me where I misstate.
Yes- it is Central Pet and Rick works closely with them, says they're the
biggest distributor in the country and yes, he did offer that he was sure
they'd welcome us and yes, I think we should take him up on that offer.
Teresa's idea which you will likely hear more about from the Commission is
called SPARC (Small Pet Adoption Rescue Coalition). She advocates for a
"separation of church and state" meaning that to have pet sellers involved
in the Coalition would be a conflict of interest. Thinks that rescues,
shelters, ACCs and vets should be the determiners of the education and
certification process and that pet sellers should agree to only sell to
SPARC certified customers. Rick would be happy to sell to SPARC certified
customers in addition to his regulars. (He's been working with birds since
1969 and I would say that his pride is very wounded that Mickaboo does not
have more respect for his bird prowess.) Sally is very interested in this
and really likes it because it is a compromise and neither side gets
everything they want (rescues don't get the ban, sellers have to sell to the
certified). It would be an improvement over current situation. The way
this would help with breeding is that it would reduce supply.
I offered my hope that SF will pass the ban and become a Sanctuary City that
rehomes unwanted pets rather than continues to breed and euthanize them.
We all agree that education is the key and I raised the issue that education
is only as good as it is meaningful- handing out a flyer isn't enough and it
is only working if you are seeing attrition- potential customers walking
away saying, Oh, I didn't know that! I asked what percentage of customers
pet sellers are willing to lose to weed out irresponsible pet buyers but it
went unanswered.
Jonathan recounted his experience where a bird buyer unhappy with his
previous purchase swapped for another bird and was sent home with no more
education but hearty guarantees of future success and a quick forgetting of
the cockatiel he had returned. Rick, who loves to edutain with anecdotes,
rushed to dismiss it as an example that the world isn't perfect.
Rick thinks adoption fairs at his store would solve everything. (He
considers them education while I consider them PR.) Marcy would place
rescue rabbits in pet stores IF they weren't selling unaltered animals.
Mickaboo never spoke to the adoption fair issue at all. I got the feeling
that Teresa's "separation of church and state" (pet sellers and rescuers)
and the conflict of interest inherent in pet selling made sense to a
majority of the folks there.
Pet sellers feel very pleased with their practices and don't perceive
themselves to be a part of the problem. I pointed out that there is a
problem and Mickaboo and all the other rescues are the evidence of that
problem. All us rescue folks, including SFACC, agreed that we would LOVE to
be put out of business. I encouraged the pet sellers, who were bragging
about the rehoming they do, to do more. I suggested Rick post a sign saying
that he is willing to rehome unwanted birds. He didn't seem to like the
idea.
IMPORTANT REALIZATION: SFACC separates birds out and so when, as today, Kat
quoted that "20 parrots came into ACC in 2009" they are leaving out the "51
parakeets" and "2 budgerigars" and and and! She and I agreed that those
categories need attention and that they need to get help from experts. I'd
LOVE to connect a Mickaboo volunteer with Deputy Director Kat Brown to get
help on that right away. I see birds mislabled there all the time and
that's another issue- confirming species before labeling and then reporting
numbers in ways that are understood by all.
Kat also really wants the numbers of animals sold from pet stores and they
weren't comfortable with that at all. Rick said, What's next, you want to
see my checkbook? And I said, Yes, in fact you offered to open your books
for comparison with Mickaboo and it's in the 7/8 SF ACWC meeting minutes.
So then I put out my hand until he shook it that we would open our books and
share with each other. I realize that I am not authorized to do any such
thing but, if you're interested, Rick shook in front of lots of witnesses.
He is scandalized that Mickaboo has taken in "$131K in donations".
Peter, Dana Strome's husband, feels that the Florida sanctuary that he and
Dana are working with that is reintroducing parrots into the wild as well as
the Indonesian island that is being set aside for Moluccan's will be a big
help for the bird crisis that doesn't exist (my words). I asked for the name
of the project and the best he could offer was "Tony Silva near Miami" and
he said he'd have Dana get the name to me.
Marcy took a stand of solidarity with Mickaboo saying that she wouldn't put
her rabbits in Rick's store (which she says she'd love to do) unless
Mickaboo was in support. She said, "I can't work with stores that are
contemptuous of rescue."
Kat is going to email Rick the findings about PETCO that involve all the
dead birds in the freezer and so that should be available to us to if we
want it. Though it may be the same document which Maggie has shared with me
and I'm attaching here.
At the 7/8 meeting, Rick said his vet was Alex Herman. His wife Ellen said
Dr. Galvin. Today, at the meeting, Rick said that his file was the thickest
one that his vet had in "his office" which I took to mean Dr. Galvin's.
Jaime (the guy that was in the Parrots of Telegraph Hill movie) and who used
to have a bird store in SF offered to do wing and nail clips for us and I
told him that we use avian vets and techs but are always looking for more
help and volunteers. His number is 516-0798.
Rick has hired Singer Associates, Inc, Public Affairs & Corporate
Communications and his Account Manager Christy Seto was there. She didn't
sit close enough to kick him though so I'm not sure if he's getting his
money's worth.
Who's coming to the 8/12 SF ACWC meeting?
On Fri, Aug 6, 2010 at 4:26 PM, Elizabeth Y