Community
Print
San Francisco could become the first major city to ban the sale of fur, according to reports.
Tomorrow (January 24) the city will consider an ordinance proposed by Supervisor Katy Tang that offers five reasons to pass a ban – claiming the sale of fur is ‘incompatible with the city’s ethos of treating all living beings with kindness’.
Reasons
According to the ordinance, more than 50 million animals are killed for their fur every year – by methods including gassing and neck-snapping – and around 85 percent of fur products are made with pelts from fur factory farms, where animals typically live in filthy, cramped conditions.
The ordinance adds that that fur farms contribute massively to water and air pollution – with US mink farms alone producing around 1 million pounds of feces a year.
Fur production also consumes huge amounts of energy – with every kilogram factory-farmed mink fur produced generating 110 kilograms of carbon dioxide.
Animal rights charity PETA has made a number of videos about fur production
‘Humane washing’
Wayne Hsuing is the Co-found of DXE – a direct action animal rights group. Writing about the potential ban, he said often fur items are sold with a label saying ‘Origin Assired’ – aimed at making the consumer think the product was humanely created.
He wrote: ” Those labels are a lie. They are part of the fur industry’s ‘humane-washing’ campaign intended to mislead the public.
“No matter where animals are raised for fur, be it China, Finland or the U.S., they are abused during their short lives and killed. Sometimes they are skinned alive.
“I know plenty about humane-washing. My fellow activists and I have been inside some of the most so-called “humane” farms in the U.S.
“We have seen up close how animals are treated on farms here. There is nothing humane about it…no amount of vanity can be worth this much suffering.”
