"The last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or plant:
'What good is it?'. If the land mechanismas a whol is good, then every
part is good, whether we understand it or not. If the biota, in the
course of eons, has built something we like, but do not understand, then
who but a fool would discard seemingly useless parts? To keep every cog
and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering."
Aldo Leopold, Round River, 1953.
**************************************************************************
******************************************There is an interesting article
in the San Francisco Chronical last week.
You can see a copy of it (for a few more days) in
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1998/01/
27/MN4009.DTL
On the surface the issue looks simple: The California Fish and Game
commission is considering a statewide ban on importing live frogs
and turtles, because of the dangers of exotic introduction into the
environment. A good thing.
Under the surface, the issue is more complex. It's history starts
last year when the San Francisco Animal Control and Welfare
Commission asked the San Francisco Board of Directors to ban the sale
of live animals in food markets. Although phrased neutrally, the ban was
clearly targeted at Asian markets in San Francisco's Chinatown. The
Board of Directors decided not to ban such sales. The paper describes
what happened next in this way:
Angered by the continuing live animal trade, animal
rights activists took the matter before the [California]
Fish and Game Commission last year, but couched their
argument in terms of environmental safety rather
than animal cruelty.
The current status is that the commission is supposed to rule on
the matter during their Feburary 6th meeting, while the Asian
community is complaining that they were never notified about the
meeting and are asking for a delay.
(Personal note: although I'm quite worried about exotic introductions,
which are a common cause of extinctions in the wild, I'm not in favor
of this rule change. To the best of my knowledge there has never
been a wild introduction of these animals, nor is there likely to
be. Food animals are eaten. Even if kept as pets they are no more
likely to cause a wild introduction than other pets.
There is also a definate odor of racism in the rules change. They
are certainly targeted at the foods Asians eat.
Can you imagine the Fish and Wildlife Commission banning the importation
of cows, pigs, fish or chickens? After all they are an exotic species
which might get loose in the environment and blah blah blah...)
Joshua Levy <jlevy at sunup.com>
I've included the full newspaper story below, but it is copywrited,
so please do not put in on a web page without getting the permission
of the publisher.
State May Move To Ban Import Of
Turtles, Frogs
Asian Americans say it's ploy to halt
live food sales
Glen Martin, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, January
27, 1998
The California Fish and Game Commission is
considering a statewide ban on importing live frogs
and turtles, a move criticized by some Asian
Americans as a first step toward a total prohibition
on live animal sales in San Francisco's Chinatown.
If approved next week, the ban will greatly reduce
the number of live reptiles and amphibians available
in the state's Asian markets, since most frogs and
turtles are imported. The majority of the animals
come from Arkansas, Florida and Taiwan,
according to the state Department of Fish and
Game.
Richard Schulke, the chairman of the San
Francisco Animal Control and Welfare
Commission, said a ban on turtles and reptiles
``would be a great first step (in ending the sale of
live animals for food), though it still wouldn't
alleviate the suffering of poultry.''
Sources familiar with the Fish and Game
Commission expect the ban to be approved when
the panel meets on February 6.
Many in the Asian American community are
decrying the proposed ban, saying they weren't
given sufficient notice of the meeting.
``I'm very disappointed that the Fish and Game
Commission didn't notify the (Asian) community
about this,'' said Pius Lee, the co- chairman of the
Chinatown Economic Development Group and a
former president of the San Francisco Chinese
Chamber of Commerce. ``It shows a basic lack of
courtesy.''
The meeting comes after years of controversy over
the sale of live poultry, frogs, turtles and fish in San
Francisco's Asian markets. Critics contend the
practice is cruel and spreads disease.
Many Asian American activists counter that the sale
of live animals for food is an integral part of Asian
culture and subjects the animals to no more
suffering than they would endure in a typical
slaughterhouse.
The San Francisco Animal Control and Welfare
Commission recommended a ban on the sale of live
food animals to the Board of Supervisors last year,
but no action was taken.
Angered by the continuing live animal trade, animal
rights activists took the matter before the Fish and
Game Commission last year, but couched their
argument in terms of environmental safety rather
than animal cruelty. The commission took testimony
on the matter during meetings held in November
and December.
Eric Mills, a spokesman for Action for Animals and
Fund for Animals, two animal rights groups, said
people are buying frogs and turtles and releasing
them into state waterways so they won't be
slaughtered.
``The fact is that these are exotic animals -- they're
not native to the state,'' said Mills. ``When they're
released to the wild, they threaten native species.''
Washington state and New York City already have
banned the sale of live reptiles and amphibians for
food due to environmental and health concerns.
Some Asian American activists deem the
commission meeting an attempt to override local
control of a local issue and an unprincipled attack
on Asian culture and values.
Lee said that Asians have been demanding
fresh-killed animals for food for thousands of years,
and that the practice is an essential part of Asian
cuisine and culture.
``The problem is that (the ban) will be harder to
stop on the state level than it was on the local level,
but we have to organize and do what we can,'' Lee
said.
``A major difficulty is that celebrations for Chinese
New Year will run until February 14, and
everybody is involved with that. It will be very hard
to get many people up to Sacramento for the
meeting.''
Lee said he intends to ask the commission for a
continuance on the matter, and will ``certainly call
on (state Senator) John Burton and
(Assemblywoman) Carole Migden if necessary.''
State Fish and Game spokesman Steve Martarano
said Fish and Game commissioners are extremely
concerned about the risks exotic species pose to
native fauna, but also indicated that the panel's
members were not insensitive to the issue of animal
cruelty.
``The reason the commission is proposing to adopt
regulations prohibiting the importation of live turtles
and frogs is because testimony has been received
about the risk to native species of exotic releases to
the wild,'' said Martarano.
``Testimony has also been received that (imported
turtles and frogs) are held and butchered under
cruel conditions.''
Schulke agreed with Mills about the threat exotic
frogs and turtles pose to native Californian aquatic
species.
``In May, San Francisco police detained 14 people
releasing non- native turtles and frogs into Lake
Merced,'' he said. ``They confiscated 53 turtles and
140 pounds of Asian frogs. I understand they were
all hopping and crawling around the Taraval police
station for a while.''
Contagion has also been raised as an issue in the
possible ban.
``Frogs and turtles carry a host of diseases
contagious to people, including salmonella, giardia
and blood parasites,'' said Mills.
Some medical authorities support that position.
Lexie Endo, a San Ramon veterinarian who treats
and tests animals obtained from Asian food
markets, said the turtles she has cared for are
riddled with salmonella and parasites, ``primarily
roundworms, giardia and flukes.''
``I even once diagnosed malaria in a red-ear slider
(turtle),'' she said.
Endo said that similar levels of pathogens and
parasites would not be tolerated in commonly
consumed food animals such as hogs, cattle or
lambs.
``(The animals) would be immediately condemned,''
she said.
While some Asian American community leaders do
not necessarily oppose a ban on live animal sales,
they worry that such regulations could be applied
selectively against Asians.
``We don't have a substantive position on this,''
said Victor Hwang, an attorney with the Asian Law
Caucus, a nonprofit legal services and litigation
group.
``Our major concern is whether these kinds of laws
and regulations are discriminatory. Many laws that
appeared to have been neutral on the surface were
revealed to be aimed at Asian Americans in the
final analysis.''
_1998 San Francisco Chronicle Page A1