Count the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals out of San Francisco officials' plan to use dogs to dissuade public begging.
PETA penned a "strongly-worded" letter to city officials, following their learning of WOOF -- or, Wonderful Opportunities for Occupants and Fidos, the cute name applied to the city's effort to halt panhandling, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
The plan, cooked up by homeless czar Bevan Dufty, would give pets and a small weekly stipend to formerly homeless people living in city-funded apartments. They keep the stipend if they are not caught panhandling.
They lose the pets and the perks if they're caught asking passers-by for dough.
Local
The plan is "slapdash" and "ill-conceived" in PETA's view, the newspaper reported.
"Placing any animal with" people "financially destitute because of struggles with substance abuse issues and mental health issues" is "risky at best," PETA says, adding that the plan, supported by Mayor Ed Lee, is like "Russian roulette" with dogs.
PETA offered San Francisco $10,000 to drop the plan, but city leaders are pushing forward.
