BEVERLY HILLS (CNS) - Animal rights activists will take to the streets of Beverly Hills Friday to protest the sale of fur worldwide, despite a state ban on the sale and manufacture of new fur products passed last year.
The activists will gather at 10:45 a.m. Friday at Beverly Gardens Park, on the northwest corner of North Beverly Drive and Santa Monica Boulevard, before marching down Rodeo Drive during the annual "Fur Free Friday" event.
Last Chance for Animals -- a Los Angeles-based nonprofit "dedicated to eliminating animal exploitation" -- says that despite California's ban, "major luxury fashion brands on Rodeo Drive including Dior, Fendi and Louis Vuitton are still profiting off cruelty by selling fur online and outside of California."
They say that not only are millions of animals killed unnecessarily for their fur, the animals are kept in inhumane conditions prior to their slaughter.
According to the International Humane Society, "Animals bred for their fur such as foxes, rabbits, raccoon dogs and mink are confined in small, barren, wire cages for their entire lives. Unable to express their basic natural behaviours such as digging, roaming large territories and, for semi- aquatic mink, swimming and diving, these naturally active and curious animals have been shown to display the stereotypical behaviour of mental distress such as repeated pacing and circling inside their cages. Such confined spaces can also result in animals self-mutilating and fighting with their cage mates."
"... When their pelts are at their prime, before they are one year old, the animals are gassed, electrocuted, beaten or have their necks broken," the group continues.
LVMH, the parent company of luxury brands including Dior, Fendi and Louis Vuitton, did not respond to a request for comment.
Fur Free Friday began in the 1980s as a grass-roots movement to raise awareness about the suffering behind fur fashion, and has grown into an international movement. In the United States it is held on the Friday after Thanksgiving, which is traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year.