San Francisco Blog

We knew Willie loved his chicks, just not the barnyard ones.

In his latest self-congratulatory column in the Chronicle, Willie Brown bragged about turning his backyard into a "petting zoo" for his daughter's 8th birthday. "I rented a baby calf, a baby horse, two baby goats, ducks, rabbits, all kinds of little animals. The kids went absolutely bananas."

Forgive us for being the spoilsport at Willie's bonanza, but we had to wonder: is that even legal?

We called up the Department of Public Health's spokesperson, Eileen Shields, always the go-to woman for a saucy quote, and, true to form, she gave us an earful about how lame Willie Brown's column is ("It's not informational; it's not even entertaining; why should I care about his daughter's birthday party?") how she refuses to even read it anymore, yet how some people at the office had brought up this latest bit on his menagerie of barnyard animals so she couldn't avoid it this week.

Shields checked into whether you need some permits to have have a one-day backyard zoo, but the answer came up negative. "You don't need a permit and too bad, because I would have loved to have sent him a bill. So if you have a friend in town with a camel, they can visit you, but only for a day."

(Photo credit: ecastro)