L.A. trying to ban new fur products

LOS ANGELES» Los Angeles, one of the world’s major fashion centers and long a symbol of glitz and glamour, is taking steps to ban the sales of new fur products, a move that would make it the largest city in the U.S. to do so.

A proposal to ban the sales of new fur products advanced in the City Council on Tuesday. The council voted unanimously to direct the city attorney to draft an ordinance that will prohibit the manufacturing and sales of new fur products. The ordinance must be presented to the council at a future date for final approval.

“This is something that is not just a good legislative win, it’s a moral win,” Councilman Bob Blumenfield said. “We feel like we’re evolving as a city, as people, to stop this kind of unnecessary cruelty.”

The vote also directed the city attorney to report back to the council on several issues, including how fur apparel is utilized by religious organizations, and possible exemptions, as well as potential conflicts with federal and state laws relating to sales of fur products derived from legally trapped animals.

A ban would take effect two years after final approval of the ordinance.

The ban would cover apparel made in whole or in part of fur, including clothing, handbags, shoes, hats and jewelry. Only used fur products could be sold.

Councilmen Bob Blumenfield and Paul Koretz submitted the motion.

Blumenfield said there’s no reason to wear fur in 2018. “Certainly not in sunny Los Angeles,” he said.

“There’s nothing humane about raising an animal and killing it for unnecessary vanity,” Koretz said.

The effort to ban the sale of new fur products in L.A. is part of a national movement, said Christina Sewell of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

“Millions of these animals are killed in the fur industry every year. We’re just slowly chipping away at this progress here in the U.S., and we won’t stop until every city in the U.S. is completely furfree,” Sewell said.