I have to disagree 100% with the black market effect...because SF is too
close to other major cities, Oakland, San Jose, San Rafael to name only
3 of many- where people will have no problem driving to- to get a baby
bird. This isn't a remote city that will force them into the black
market because everything else is just too far.
From: mickacoo-bounces@mickaboo.org
[mailto:mickacoo-bounces@mickaboo.org] On Behalf Of Cathy Kendall
Sent: Friday, July 02, 2010 2:45 PM
To: 'monica deza'; 'Elizabeth Young'
Cc: MickaCoo@mickaboo.org; 'General mickaboo discussion'
Subject: Re: [MickaCoo] Clarification from Elizabeth
I have the same concerns about the black market effect.
________________________________
From: mickacoo-bounces@mickaboo.org
[mailto:mickacoo-bounces@mickaboo.org] On Behalf Of monica deza
Sent: Friday, July 02, 2010 12:50 PM
To: Elizabeth Young
Cc: MickaCoo@mickaboo.org; General mickaboo discussion
Subject: Re: [MickaCoo] Clarification from Elizabeth
I agree that selling birds is terrible, and it seems that nobody but
animal rescues are looking out for what s best for the birds. However, I
am a little worried about some unintended consequences from the law. I
may not be understanding the law correctly, so please correct me if I am
wrong. I think that it won t be allowed to have birds in any pet store,
the same way that dogs and cats are not allowed to be kept in Pet smarts
or Petcos, right? The only thing that worries me is that those customers
who only want a baby bird that they can see right before purchasing it,
may start going directly to the breeder instead of the petstore and in
that case, breeders will be better off. The reason why that worries me
is because in a pet store, it is on the owner's best interest to show a
parrot in a pretty clean cage, with toys, and clean food and water.
However, the breeder can keep them in his/her house in whatever
conditions because nobody can see them.
There are 3 types of customers for birds. (1) The ones that truly care
about helping a bird, and those will choose rescue, so the law won t
affect their impact on the sale of birds. (2) The ones that may be
indecisive, and would go to either. The law may make it harder for them
to buy them in SF, so hopefully these will choose rescue now. (3)The
ones that absolutely want a baby bird who you can play for 5 minutes
before buying it. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do to prevent
these people from buying a bird, unless we banned breeding and selling
altogether, which I wish was true. Even if it gets banned, there will
always be a black market for it, and I would feel much better with the
birds being in a Petco (where it s on the owner's best interest to take
care of them) than with them being sold in the flea market or from the
neighbor's backyard. As long as these people are a big group and are
willing to pay big bucks, I believe someone would be willing to breed
birds for them.
I am not saying that I support animal sales at all. I would love to see
animal selling and breeding being completely banned and most
importantly, correctly enforced. I am just afraid of a black market for
them. I sure hope that our adoption events, and the awesome job you guys
do do inform people about rescue will change their preferences towards
rescues. Only when people are not willing to pay the big bucks for
birds, it s only then that people will stop breeding. It s sad but true.
Thanks Elizabeth for all your effort, and I sure hope that this law ,
benefits the birds, and not create a black market for them.
On Fri, Jul 2, 2010 at 12:10 PM, Elizabeth Young