West Hollywood, California was the first U.S. city to pass a ban on fur in 2011. Berkeley followed in 2017 and San Francisco in 2018. Los Angeles is the latest and largest city to follow suit. Democratic Assemblywoman from Glendale, Laura Friedman, believes there is no need for fur today, saying there are other textiles available that are just as warm and fashionable. She is the author of legislation, AB44 which recently passed a vote in the appropriations committee and is likely to reach a floor vote within a couple of weeks. Its intention is to ban the manufacture and sale of new fur products throughout the state of California.
Retailers fear harassment by animal activists
Animal rights groups, such as PETA and Direct Action Everywhere, have voiced their strong support for the bill. Retailers fear that these groups will organize protests at their stores or subject them and their clients to harassment of the kind that they have not seen from extremists for a while. In the past, they experienced situations where stores were vandalized and inventory was destroyed.
Hundreds of businesses, jobs and livelihoods at risk
Fur industry representatives have sent letters to Friedman but she claims she has not heard from them. She says she won’t be accepting any amendments to her bill unless her sponsor agrees.
