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SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ― Want a red-eared slider turtle for dinner? No problem. Shops in San Francisco's Chinatown have plenty. You can also buy American bullfrogs by the boxload in the Sunset District.

Chickens are on sale right in front of San Francisco City Hall at the farmer's market. $3 gets you a chicken in a paper sack. Live animals sales are legal and abundant in markets and shops around the state. Immigrants from Asian and Latin American countries are their biggest customers.

But that could soon change, as the State of California may ban the importation of frogs and turtles.

At a hearing in Woodland Thursday, the California Fish and Game Commission ordered its staff to research options that would allow the state to ban the importation of frogs and turtles from other states. The commission planned to revisit the issue in a hearing sometime within the next three months, said Adrianna Shea, the commission's Deputy Director .

The order came after years of lobbying on the part of animal rights groups to stop the sale of red-eared slider turtles and American bullfrogs; staples sold alive in markets.

Both species are imported from Southern states, and since it is already illegal for native-born species to be sold in markets, the commission's action could have the effect of wiping out the sale of all turtles and frogs in markets.

Some environmentalists have said the problems stem from well-wishers who have been steadily buying animals in the markets and then releasing them in the wild. These stronger imported species are in danger of overwhelming the native species.

"They're ending up in our ponds and streams," said Paul Haskins, a rehabilitator of reptiles and amphibians.

"It's not just 'Pokey the pet Turtle' that's been raised since he was a little baby," added Haskins. "A lot of them are coming right out of the animal markets. People release them."

It's a debate that has raged since the mid 1990's in San Francisco. Back then, animal rights activists argued that live animals sold in markets are treated inhumanely. They said it was a potential public health problem.

But Chinese-American groups fought back, saying it's a cultural tradition that should not be regulated.

"This is a very important part of the Chinatown economy and in these difficult economic times, that is a consideration," said David Chiu, President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

"There are many in the Chinese community who wonder what the distinction between how turtles are treated - which folks obviously have concerns about - and lobsters are treated which seem to be fairly similar," said Chiu.

The result of the past battle was a state law passed in 2000 that said animals could still be sold live, but they should not be "confined, held or displayed in a manner that results…in injury, starvation, dehydration or suffocation."

At Thursday's hearing, commissioners seemed intent on refraining from issuing an outright ban of the turtles and frogs, instead asking staff members to look into the legal and administrative procedures necessary to follow through with a ban on just the importation of the animals.

And while that process continues forward, the debate rages on.

"It seems stupid not to ban the importation of frogs and turtles," Eric Mills of Action for Animals told the commissioners during the public comment segment of the hearing. "Washington and Oregon, they've already banned them. What's the matter with California?"

"If you go to an Asian market, they sell stuff that Americans would say is totally off the wall or totally gross," said Caleb Whang of San Francisco. "It's just what we eat."

Whang said for many people, it's all about eating fresh food. "When you pick an apple straight from the tree, it's going to be better than one that's cargoed thousands of miles."

As for the sale of live chickens, there is no ban in place now, nor is one in the works. It is still perfectly legal.

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