S.F. commission wants to ban sale of live animals. Pet store owners plan to fight back

San Francisco leaders could soon consider banning the sale of live animals, a move that the city's animal commission says is backed by dozens of rescue and welfare organizations but faces opposition from pet store owners.

The Commission of Animal Control and Welfare voted unanimously Thursday to recommend that Mayor Daniel Lurie and the Board of Supervisors make it illegal to sell live animals at pet stores within city limits. Supporters said a ban would formalize a shift already underway in the city's pet industry.

Officials said only nine of the city's pet stores still sell animals, while 29 others just offer services such as grooming, boarding, supplies and adoptions.

These days, stores mostly sell reptiles, amphibians, birds, fish, guinea pigs and hamsters, after California in 2019 outlawed the sale of cats, dogs and rabbits that come from commercial breeding facilities, Liz Cabrera Holtz, senior campaign manager with World Animal Protection US, told the commission in her presentation Thursday.

Pet store owners called the recommendation overreach and said they would challenge it.

A worker at Pet Central SF in North Beach, who declined to give his name, said the proposal, if it passes, would have a detrimental impact on his business, which sells fish, guinea pigs, birds and other animals.

"This is our livelihood," he said Saturday. "This is a business, this is what we rely on" for income.

Rick French, the owner of the Animal Company in Noe Valley, also criticized the recommendation.

"Yet another footstep in San Francisco making it too difficult to run a business," French said.

For 50 years, French has owned and operated the Animal Company, the oldest pet store in the city that mostly sells birds. He questioned where the birds would go and how easily rescue places would be able to find forever homes for all the animals. He vowed to fight the proposed plan.

"They're just overreaching. It's overboard," French said. "I 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."

For Julia Baran, the owner of the Animal Connection in the Sunset District, the sale of animals is less about the money and more about caring for the animals that are often surrendered at her store. Baran said she will buy hamsters from an ethical breeder for $10 and rarely makes a profit on the resell.

"Ninety percent of my animals are rescued animals. People come to me and drop them off and say, ‘I can't take care of this anymore or I don't want this anymore,'" Baran said. "I set (the animals) up. We care for them and love them. That costs us a lot of money."

She added that sometimes she'll care for an animal for years before finding it a home. A turtle named Cleo, for example, has lived at the store for 30 years.

Baran questioned whether banning the sale of live animals would actually prohibit San Franciscans from buying animals versus adopting them.

"It won't stop people from getting the animal that they want," Baran said. "They might just go to Craigslist or go online and get it shipped from across the country."

So far, the proposal has drawn support from more than 60 organizations, including 41 San Francisco animal rescue groups, according to Kitty Jones, an animal and human rights activist. She and other advocates argue that pet stores are ill-equipped to care for animals, some of which at times require special attention.

Advocates pointed to growing momentum behind broader retail bans. Supporters at Friday's hearing noted that West Hollywood adopted a comprehensive retail sales ban on live animals last year that took effect this month, while Albany recently voted unanimously to move forward with drafting its own prohibition bill and El Cerrito is also considering a ban.

Commissioners were adamant about making sure the Board of Supervisors and Lurie see the letter of recommendation, with Chairperson Michael Angelo Torres noting they never receive a satisfactory response to any of their recommendations.

"It's usually, ‘yes, thank you for bringing this to our attention,'" Torres said. "We understand that there are a lot of different things that are happening in the city, many of them of great urgency. And I'm not saying this isn't as well, but they prioritize things based on what constituents are saying."

San Francisco's supervisors and mayor have not yet decided on the recommendation or scheduled a vote. Supervisor Myrna Melgar told the Chronicle she opposes a ban on the sale of animals. Pets bring people joy, and her dog is a member of her family, she said.

"We can achieve humane safety standards for sales of live animals without going to this extreme," Melgar said.

Commissioners said they would work with organizations and advocates to start a letter-writing campaign to bring attention to the ban proposal.

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This story was originally published May 16, 2026 at 7:21 PM.