MEDIA ALERT:San Franciscans Protest the Sale of Factory-farmed
Live Birds at the Heart of the City Farmers’ Market
Sunday, October 10 from 9 a.m. to 12 a.m.
Contact:
Andrew Zollman, Founder & Organizer, LGBT Compassion
Andrew@LGBTcompassion.org, (415) 297-0207
Dozens of activists will assemble at the Heart of the City Farmers’ Market in San Francisco’s UN Plaza on Sunday, October 10 at 9 AM in
protest of the public health and animal cruelty concerns associated with the sale of live birds in an urban environment.
Through months of investigation, LGBT Compassion has documented violations of local, state and federal laws at the farmers’ market.
Unfortunately, government officials and market management have largely ignored the concerns.
The rally will take place during market hours and will include banners, brochures, and video footage. Due to market management’s complacency on
the issues, LGBT Compassion encourages a boycott of Heart of the City Farmers’ Market and suggests customers shop at one of the 15 other markets
in San Francisco, none of which allow live animal sales.
Additionally, several activists will picket at nearby public transit stops to remind Muni and BART employees of the consistently-violated rules
regarding the transportation of live animals purchased at the market.
In light of the recent salmonella scare and recall of over 500 million eggs, customers at the market have cause for alarm. The vendors truck in sick
and injured birds from a variety of factory farms in the Central Valley, including a factory operated by Gemperle Farms—a company that has been
repeatedly caught keeping birds in the same filthy and unsafe conditions that caused hundreds of people to fall ill last month.
While we know that eggs can be vectors for salmonella-carrying feces, at Heart of the City Farmers’ Market the factory farms are brought right
into our city. LGBT Compassion asks, why do San Francisco officials continue to gamble with the public’s health?
LGBT Compassion invites members of the news media to attend the rally and welcomes any questions. Full documentation of the market’s variety
of legal violations is available upon request, including video and photographic evidence.
www.LGBTcompassion.org/livemarkets
