Live markets torture animals & perhaps poison people in your city too

(Beth Clifton collage)

by Eric Mills,  coordinator,  Action for Animals,  Oakland,  California.

The San Francisco Commission of Animal Care & Control met on February 13, 2025.  On the agenda:  animal cruelty in the city’s many live markets,  presented by the Washington, D.C.-based organization,  Animal Outlook,  replete with videos of the abuses and violations.

The involvement of Animal Outlook,  a national organization formerly known as Compassion Over Killing,  founded in 1995,  is indicative of the scale and scope of the live market issue.

Eric Mills (right)

Live markets exist in almost every big city

Live markets exist,  keeping animals in developing world conditions or worse,  in almost every big U.S. city.  The San Francisco live markets are among those where the abuses have been best documented,  for the longest time,  but similar can also be readily observed from New York City to Honolulu.

Sadly,  the Animal Outlook presentation left other parts of the problem unaddressed,  for example data on the numbers and species of animals imported to be sold,  the risks they present to the environment and public health,  the relevant laws already on the books but ignored,  and of course the consistent lack of law enforcement in the live markets.

Many of us have been working on these issues since the early 1990s.

San Francisco live market bullfrogs.
(Animal Outlook photo)

Two million bullfrogs,  300,000 turtles

The California Department of Fish & Wildlife annually issues import permits for some two million commercially raised American bullfrogs,  plus an estimated 300,000 freshwater turtles for human consumption.  These are mostly non-native red-eared sliders and various softshell species,  all taken from the wild,  depleting local populations.

The California Department of Fish & Wildlife under Chuck Bonham,  director since 2011,  after a four-year study,  has reportedly considered a cessation of issuing the bullfrog permits.

(Beth Clifton collage)

Why no turtle import ban?

For reasons unclear,  a ban on the turtle imports has not been considered.  Imports of both should be banned.   The frogs and turtles—along with chickens,  ducks,  pigeons,  game birds and more––are sold at live markets in “Chinatowns” throughout California:  San Francisco, Oakland,  San Jose,  Los Angeles,  Sacramento,  and elsewhere.

The animals are kept in crowded and unsanitary conditions,  routinely butchered while fully conscious.  This is not acceptable!

California State Penal Code 597.3,  Live Animal Markets,  enacted in 2000, states in part that, “Every person who operates a live animal market shall do all of the following:  (1) Provide that no animal will be dismembered,  flayed,  cut open,  or have its skin,  scales,  feathers,  or shell removed while the animal is still alive,”  and requires markets to “Provide that no live animals will be confined,  held,  or displayed in a manner that results,  or is likely to result,  in injury,  starvation,  dehydration,  or suffocation.”

That sounds good on paper,  but is rarely enforced.

(Beth Clifton collage)

Live markets in the U.S. are nearly identical to those in Wuhan

Please note that the live markets in the U.S. are nearly identical to those in Wuhan,  China, likely source of the COVID-19 pandemic,  except that the Wuhan live markets are much more closely policed,  especially since the pandemic started.

State and city health Departments should be all over this issue.  As should the San Francisco SPCA and like organizations throughout the nation.

Again,  none of the live market frogs or turtles are native to California,  or many other states where they are sold,  and all of them who have ever been tested have been diseased and/or parasitized,  though it is illegal to sell or import such products under California Code of Regulations,  Title 14,  Section 236.

(Beth Clifton collage)

Chytrid fungus

Numerous necropsies over the years have documented cases of E. coli,  pasturella and salmonella bacterial infections,  all potentially fatal in humans,  plus cases of giardia,  blood parasites,  even one case of malaria.

Worse,  the majority of the bullfrogs––62% in one study––carry a lethal chytrid fungus called Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis,  or Bd for short,  responsible for the extinctions of more than 100 amphibian species worldwide in recent years,  and known to afflict thousands.

(Beth Clifton collage)

Release of some frogs & turtles may kill many

The live market animals are sometimes purchased en masse,  then illegally released into local waters by “do gooders” and certain religious sects.

According to a May 20, 1998 San Francisco Police Blotter report,  one such aborted incident involved a 14-member Buddhist group caught red-handed about to release “60 squabs,  40 Chinese quails,  53 turtles and 140 pounds of frogs” into Lake Merced and environs.

While bullfrogs generally do not succumb to the chytrid fungus,  they certainly do disperse it,  along with other diseases and parasites.

(Beth Clifton collage)

Save the Frogs!

Both Oregon and Washington outlawed non-native bullfrog imports decades ago.  Oregon also banned the importation of all non-native sliders and soft-shell turtles.

Santa Cruz County,  California banned bullfrogs back in 2012,  thanks largely to the work of Kerry Kriger’s organization Save the Frogs!

Clearly, all of California should follow suit. The California Department of Fish & Wildlife did its own in-house study in 2014,  Implications of Importing American Bullfrogs (Lithobates catesbeianus = Rana catesbeiana) into California,  which recommended a ban on the frog imports as the best solution,  yet the permits continue.

This ain’t rocket science,  folks.  It is mostly about money and racial/cultural politics,  sad to say.

(Animal Outlook photo)

California Department of Fish & Wildlife ignores the State Fish & Game Commission

The State Fish & Game Commission has twice voted to stop the permits, recommendations consistently ignored by the Department of Fish & Wildlife.

Since the mid-1990s the Commission and the Department have received more than 3,000 letters in support of stopping the permits,  from sporting and environmental organizations,  state game wardens,  animal welfare groups,  veterinarians,  university herpetologists,  and the general public.

The late San Francisco Judge William Newsom,  father of current California governor Gavin Newsom’s father,   wrote in support of the ban,  as did former Resources Secretary Huey Johnson,  twice,  all to no avail.

(Beth Clifton collage)

How you can help

California constituents can help by contacting the powers-that-be within California,  urging the proposed ban on the frog and turtle permits.

An easy fix would be to allow only the import of frozen frog and turtle parts for human consumption.

A similar strategy is applicable in other states,  but recommending a ban on frog and turtle imports,  rather than endorsing a proposal already before wildlife officials and legislators.

(Beth Clifton collage)

The following need to hear from California constituents in particular:

Wade Crowfoot,  Resources Secretary,  email secretary@resources.ca.gov
Chuck Bonham,  Director,  California Department of Fish & Wildlife,  email  director@wildlife.ca.gov
California Fish & Game Commission,  email  fgc@fgc.ca.gov

All may be written c/o Resources Building,  1416 Ninth Street,  Sacramento,  CA  95814.

Failing that,  legislation is in order,  and perhaps a lawsuit or two.

Merritt & Beth Clifton with Henry the rooster.

The email pattern for all California state legislators is:
senator.lastname@senate.ca.gov;
assemblymember.lastname@assembly.ca.gov

The California governor and all state legislators may be written c/o The State Capitol, Sacramento, CA  95814.

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