Misfit
Lawful neutral
PETA pans S.F. plan on panhandlers, pups - SFGate
Animal rights activists are offering San Francisco $10,000 to halt its plan to pay panhandlers to take care of unwanted pups, saying the city's idea is tantamount to playing "Russian roulette" with the pets.
In a sharply worded letter to Mayor Ed Lee, PETA - People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals - called the paid-pet partner idea "a disastrous plan that will come back to haunt the city."
Former San Francisco Supervisor Bevan Dufty, now the mayor's homelessness chief, recently announced the pilot program - dubbed Wonderful Opportunities for Occupants and Fidos, or WOOF - to have panhandlers living in city-funded supportive housing give up begging. In exchange, they would get $50- to $75-a-week stipends to become foster parents for puppies that might otherwise be euthanized at the city's animal shelter.
"Ultimately we want to see people live purposeful and full lives, and this is a step in the right direction," Dufty said.
Animal rights activists are offering San Francisco $10,000 to halt its plan to pay panhandlers to take care of unwanted pups, saying the city's idea is tantamount to playing "Russian roulette" with the pets.
In a sharply worded letter to Mayor Ed Lee, PETA - People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals - called the paid-pet partner idea "a disastrous plan that will come back to haunt the city."
Former San Francisco Supervisor Bevan Dufty, now the mayor's homelessness chief, recently announced the pilot program - dubbed Wonderful Opportunities for Occupants and Fidos, or WOOF - to have panhandlers living in city-funded supportive housing give up begging. In exchange, they would get $50- to $75-a-week stipends to become foster parents for puppies that might otherwise be euthanized at the city's animal shelter.
"Ultimately we want to see people live purposeful and full lives, and this is a step in the right direction," Dufty said.
