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 <adoptkings@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello-

I'm sorry if my passing along the info from the "Protect our Precious Animals" group (which more honestly should be called Protect Our Precious Profits) has confused folks.

There is a HUGE crisis in the pet bird world. Most birds that have homes aren't properly cared for and the average parrot will be rehomed seven times in the first ten years of its life because that improper care (and sometimes even proper care) results in noise, mess and aggression levels that most people aren't willing or able to cope with.

I sent that info out not to support it but to alert people that there are a lot of bird sellers fighting to keep up the business despite the devastating impact it has on creatures that we know suffer pitifully from being treated like merchandise.

I support the ban on pet sales in SF, especially for birds! We humans have not been trustworthy in our selling of pets and animals have and continue to suffer terribly because of it.

e

--
Elizabeth

Until they all have homes, don't buy, don't breed- adopt.
www.RescueReport.org
www.MickaCoo.org
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGjyooh3Yo0

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