CFA Legislative ALERT
San Francisco "Guardian" FIRST ROUND
Last Updated: December 13 2002
WE LOST THE FIRST ROUND in San Francisco. Yesterday the Board of
Supervisors passed the "Pet Guardian Ordinance" in its first reading with a 6
to 3 vote. The second reading will probably be at the next meeting, this coming
Monday
December 16th. This Ordinance needs 6 votes to pass. We must hold on to our
votes and get ONE Supervisor to switch THIS WEEK. In Santa Cruz the
"guardian" vote was reversed on the second reading in 2001. To do this we need
your letters, emails and phone calls, no matter where you live.
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT TO CFA AND TO YOU:
Some of you may not be too concerned about San Francisco adding a nice
sounding word like "guardian" to the animal codes. You may wonder why this one
word would affect you or your animals or make any difference to CFA and the cat
fancy.
See the links at the top of this page to understand the background of this issue, the CFA
Legislative Group's perspective and reasons for our strong opposition. We are joined by the American Kennel
Club, Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council, The American Veterinary Medical Law
Association, The Civil Justice Association of California, The Animal Council,
Animal Issues Movement of LA, National Animal Interest Alliance,
the
Southern California Veterinary Medical Association and a growing number of
aware veterinarians, organizations and individual dog and cat owners.
LANGUAGE CHANGE IS THE FIRST STEP toward the goal of removing animal owner
property rights. Replacing owner with "guardian" in laws has been planned
by
animal rights activists for at least 10 years. Ultimately if they are
successful with the "They Are Not Our Property - We Are Not Their Owners"
campaign led by In Defense of Animals (IDA) there will
be serious legal ramifications. These will affect you - it is our
well-established property rights that protect our abilities to possess,
transfer, provide care and plan reproduction, as long as it is humane.
The San Francisco Pet Guardian Ordinance will have no immediate legal impact on
your rights to breed pedigreed cats because the "guardian" word will be added
to owner in the Code. But, if the movement is not checked now it will spread
throughout the country and set the stage for replacing ownership in laws and
existing property rights in state laws.
Elliot Katz of IDA is against any buying and selling of animals. The
"guardian" word campaign is linked to a concept of legal "personhood" for
animals, which Katz says will "free animals from the exploitation, suffering
and bondage imposed on them by their current status as property". Some in the
humane community are complacent about this campaign because they are
fundamentally opposed to the breeding and selling of pedigreed cats/purebred
dogs and believe this concept will encourage more adoption. Others see it
as
the way to eventually abolish the raising of farm animals, animals in
medical
research, in zoos or aquariums.
So far only a few small local jurisdictions, and the state of Rhode Island,
have passed laws inserting the "guardian" word. San Francisco would be the
first major city to add this word to animal codes. Passage of "FILE NUMBER
021645 THE PET GUARDIAN ORDINANCE in this California city would give impetus to
a dangerous animal rights agenda.
We have very few cat fanciers/breeders living in the city of San Francisco to
help on this. Get the word out. Call your friends and fellow pet lovers in
the City. Ask them to fax, email or make a call to Supervisors' aides
urging a NO vote on the Pet Guardian Ordinance. Send a short fax or email
yourself with one or two points from the information on the CFA web site. Let them know
this is important. Thank the three Supervisors who understood and
voted against this.
Target several Supervisors who may be willing to change their yes votes to NO:
RE: FILE NUMBER 021645 THE PET GUARDIAN ORDINANCE
Jake McGoldrick - District 1
City Hall
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room 244
San Francisco, CA 94102-4689
(415) 554-7410 - voice
(415) 554-7415 - fax
Email: Jake.McGoldrick@sfgov.org
Tony Hall - District 7
City Hall
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room 244
San Francisco, CA 94102-4689
(415) 554-6516 - voice
(415) 554-6546 - fax
Email: Tony.Hall@sfgov.org
Gerardo Sandoval - District 11
City Hall
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room 244
San Francisco, CA 94102-4689
(415) 554-6975 - voice
(415) 554-6979 - fax
Email: Gerardo.Sandoval@sfgov.org
Send a copy of your letter to the Mayor - he could VETO should this pass the
second reading on December 16th.
Willie L. Brown, Jr., Mayor
City Hall, Room 200
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
San Francisco, CA 94102
Telephone: (415) 554-6141
TDD: (415) 252-3107
Fax: (415) 554-6160
Email: damayor@sfgov.org
Thank the Supervisors who voted against the Ordinance. Compliment them on
their understanding of the long term ramifications and their progressive stance
for animal ownership rights:
Tom Ammiano - District 9 - President, Board of Supervisors
City Hall
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room 244
San Francisco, CA 94102-4689
(415) 554-5144 - voice
(415) 554-6255 - fax
Email: tom.ammiano@sfgov.org
Gavin Newsom - District 2 (Is planning to run for Mayor)
City Hall
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room 244
San Francisco, CA 94102-4689
(415) 554-5942 - voice
(415) 554-5946 - fax
Email: Gavin.Newsom@sfgov.org
Aaron Peskin - District 3
City Hall
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room 244
San Francisco, CA 94102-4689
(415) 554-7450 - voice
(415) 554-7454 - fax
Email: Aaron.Peskin@sfgov.org
Ask the other Supervisors who have supported this Ordinance to change their
opinion.
Matt Gonzalez - District 5 SPONSOR
City Hall
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room 244
San Francisco, CA 94102-4689
(415) 554-7630 - voice
(415) 554-7634 - fax
Email: Matt.Gonzalez@sfgov.org
Chris Daly - District 6 VOTED YES IN HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE
City Hall
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room 244
San Francisco, CA 94102-4689
(415) 554-7970 - voice
(415) 554-7974 - fax
Email: chris.daly@sfgov.org
Sophie Maxwell - District 10 VOTED YES IN HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE
City Hall
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room 244
San Francisco, CA 94102-4689
(415) 554-7670 - voice
(415) 554-7674 - fax
Email: Sophie.Maxwell@sfgov.org
We must not give up - it is too important!
Joan Miller
To correspond with the CFA Legislative Committee, please send email to legislation@cfa.org
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