San Fran Fur Ban | God's World News

San Fran Fur Ban

03/28/2018
  • AP18078711086602
    (AP Photo: Benjamin Lin inside his store, B.B. Hawk, in San Francisco.)

Animal rights advocates are applauding. San Francisco approved new legislation on Tuesday. The city’s supervisors voted unanimously to outlaw the sale of fur. The move makes the city by the bay the largest U.S. metropolis to approve such a ban.

Come January 1, 2019, clothing and accessories featuring real fur—including coats, key chains, and gloves—will be a San Fran no-no. An amendment does allow furriers and other retailers to sell current stock until January 1, 2020. Mayor Mark Farrell plans to sign the legislation.

Wayne Hsiung, co-founder of an animal rights network, says, “This historic act will usher in a new wave of animal rights legislation across the globe.”

San Fran’s fur ban will affect about 50 large and small downtown clothing and accessory retailers. Katy Tang, the supervisor behind the fur ban legislation, has also successfully pushed to prohibit performances by exotic animals and to forbid the sale of non-rescue cats and dogs from pet stores.

Many San Francisco retailers dislike the undermining of their ability to make a living—and the way the vote happened. “It should be a citywide public vote, it shouldn’t be decided by the Board of Supervisors,” says Skip Pas, CEO of West Coast Leather.

Benjamin Lin, owns a shop in a downtown San Francisco neighborhood. His showroom features chinchilla, sable, fox, and mink. He’s considering keeping his current location but selling fur at a smaller place nearby, outside the city limits. “I cannot fight it,” he says of the ban. “I will not win. I do not have the energy and the money.”

Do you think government should be able to decide what a store can sell? Are there any exceptions to your answer?

(AP Photo: Benjamin Lin inside his store, B.B. Hawk, in San Francisco.)