Many readers can remember back several years when animal rights activists had a field day throwing red paint-sometimes even real blood-on socialites, celebrities and just ordinary folks whom they encountered wearing fur.
They saw it as an act of protest. Those on the receiving end-and we suspect most in the public-simply saw it as obnoxious. Activists didn't win a lot of friends with that one.
But they haven't given up. And now they are on the verge of a major victory.
On the West Coast, cities are banning the sale of clothing made from real fur. San Francisco and other, smaller cities have already done so. Los Angeles is poised to become the largest U.S. city with such a ban.
Fur coats and accessories fall under the ban. If it passes, you won't even be able to buy a real lucky rabbit's foot.
Supporters say the ban is needed to combat cruelty in the fur industry. And a lot of folks seem to agree. Fur is banned in some form, from imports to pelt farming, in several European countries. Will it catch on here? California is one thing, but the rest of America?
In our view, the ban is likely to spread, though how far and how long it will take we can't say. People love animals and the status of a mink coat isn't what it used to be.
Whether that's good or not, we can't say. The fur industry employs about 32,000 full-time and about 155,000 part-time and seasonally. That's a lot of folks.
Perhaps a better idea would be for the industry to crack down and clean up the alleged abuses. Shape the laws to ban only those fur companies that don't comply with a set of generally accepted standards.
That wouldn't satisfy everyone-some will never see fur as anything but cruel. But it may give the industry-and the workers-more time to adjust to a world that is leaving them behind.