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The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is preparing to vote on a ban on fur sales.
It could become the first to major city to ban the sale of fur following an ordinance proposed by Supervisor Katy Tang that offers various reasons to pass a ban – including animal welfare.
The proposed legislation, on which the full board will vote next week, says: “The sale of fur products in San Francisco is inconsistent with the City’s ethos of treating all living beings, humans and animals alike, with kindness.”
Letter
Native San Franciscan Alicia Silverstone sent a letter asking board members to follow the examples of West Hollywood and Berkeley and make San Francisco a fur-free city.
In the letter, which she sent in collaboration with animal rights charity PETA, she said she is ‘thrilled to know’ that a ban on fur sales is being considered.
She added: “For decades, my friends at PETA have been exposing horrific cruelty in the fur trade all over the world.
“There’s so much violence in the world that’s beyond our control, but banning fur sales is one easy way to set an example of compassion for the whole world to follow.
“It would make me even more proud to call San Francisco home.”
PETA has long campaigned against the fur trade
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‘On the verge of a ban’
According to local reports, the city is ‘on the verge’ of a ban – despite some businesses claiming they will lose out.
Karin Flood is the Executive Director of the Union Square Business Improvement District. She represents 30 retailers in Union Square who sell items with fur.
Flood said: “This is big business for us in Union Square. This will seriously impact us.”
But Supervisor Jeff Sheehy, Committee Chair, called the morals of the fur trade into question.
He said: “Raising animals for their skins is not right. It is not moral. It is not ethical. We are a city that leads. This is how we change the world.”
