{"id":319512,"date":"2026-05-17T01:40:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T01:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/319512\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T01:40:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T01:40:08","slug":"sf-pet-store-owners-prepare-to-fight-as-city-plots-ban-on-sale-of-live-animals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/319512\/","title":{"rendered":"SF pet store owners prepare to fight as city plots ban on sale of live animals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Animal rights activists could soon get their way if officials in San Francisco decide to ban pet stores<\/a> from selling live animals.<\/p>\n

Dozens and dozens\u00a0of animal rights activists this week called on the SF Animal Commission to vote on a Retail Animal Sales Ban that would prohibit stores in the city from selling any live pets.<\/p>\n

During the commission meeting<\/a> on Thursday, city leaders heard from proponents who said the ban would stop the \u201cbreeding mills\u201d and \u201cwild catching\u201d of animals, like reptiles.<\/p>\n

The proponents also claim that the ban would stop the neglect of animals, \u201cinvasive species,\u201d and would solve the problem of overcrowded shelters and rescues.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Animal rights activists could soon get their way if officials in San Francisco decide to ban pet stores from selling live animals. County of San Francisco<\/p>\n

Dozens and dozens\u00a0of animal rights activists this week called on the SF Animal Commission to vote on a Retail Animal Sales Ban that would prohibit stores in the city from selling any live pets. Houston Chronicle via Getty Imag<\/p>\n

Animal and human rights activist Kitty Jones told the commission that there\u2019s a ton of support for the ban locally, noting more than 60 organizations have signed on to a letter calling for it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Activists pointed out that there are 29 pet stores in the city that only offer services such as grooming, boarding, supplies and adoptions. <\/p>\n

Only nine of the city\u2019s pet stores still sell animals, according to officials.<\/p>\n

Those included several Petco\u2019s, the Animal Connection, Pet Central SF, the Animal company and Ocean Aquarium.<\/p>\n

Animal and human rights activist Kitty Jones told the commission that there\u2019s a ton of support for the ban locally, noting more than 60 organizations have signed on to a letter calling for it.\u00a0 sommai \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

Pet shop owners in the city are not happy about the ban, and are willing to fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is our livelihood,\u201d one worker at Pet Central SF told the San Francisco Chronicle<\/a>. \u201cThis is a business, this is what we rely on.\u201d<\/p>\n

The longtime owner of the Animal Company, Rick French, said it would just be another terrible policy from the city<\/a> that makes it harder for business owners to operate.<\/p>\n

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\u201cYet another footstep in San Francisco making it too difficult to run a business.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re just overreaching. It\u2019s overboard,\u201d he added. \u201cI think there is going to be a lot of pushback on it. We are certainly going to organize and fight this as hard as we can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Julia Baran, the owner of the Animal Connection, said that banning the sale of live animals isn\u2019t going to stop people from wanting to get them.<\/p>\n

The longtime owner of the Animal Company, Rick French, said it would just be another terrible policy from the city that makes it harder for business owners to operate. Peta<\/p>\n

\u201cIt won\u2019t stop people from getting the animal that they want,\u201d Baran said. \u201cThey might just go to Craigslist or go online and get it shipped from across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Post reached out to several pet stores in San Francisco for further comment.<\/p>\n

The commission ended up agreeing to send a recommendation to SF Mayor Daniel Lurie and the Board of Supervisor to approve the ban.<\/p>\n

Existing state laws already prohibit the retail sale of cats, dogs<\/a>, rabbits, ferrets, gerbils, hedgehogs, and sugarglides (a little nocturnal furry animal), officials noted.<\/p>\n

The Post reached out to several pet stores in San Francisco for further comment. JHVEPhoto \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

The only animals sold in California stores these days are amphibians, fish, birds, guinea pigs, hamsters, and reptiles.<\/p>\n

In another post on on Facebook<\/a>, Jones noted that the city of Albany, in the East Bay area of Alameda county, had recently \u201cunanimously voted in support of a retail animal sales ban.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe city will draft an ordinance and vote on that in a few weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year, West Hollywood became the first city in LA county to ban pet stores, per the Los Angeles Times<\/a>. The ban became official May 1, 2026. The report noted that animals at shelters and rescues can still be sold.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Animal rights activists could soon get their way if officials in San Francisco decide to ban pet stores…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":319513,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[46702,7,4182,4822,101,103,102,104,106,105,3586],"class_list":["post-319512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-animal-rights","tag-california","tag-metro","tag-pets","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/319513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}