Starting January 1, 2021, selling and manufacturing fur products will be illegal within city limits.
We’ve officially banned declawing cats, puppy mills, and now we’re on track to ban the sale of animal fur under a new law backed by the City Council on Tuesday! It won’t go into effect until 2021, but the new ordinance deems selling, manufacturing, and trading furs, fur clothing, and accessories illegal – this includes coats, handbags, and key chains.
If fur is your thing, the ban includes a number of exemptions. Used furs can still be sold at secondhand shops, people can sell or trade the pelts of dead animals preserved through taxidermy, and as long as fur is produced from animals taken lawfully under trapping licenses, the city will still allow it.
Why make fur selling and producing illegal, you ask? Animal activists see the entire process of the fur business to be barbaric and unnecessary. Patty Shenker, a member or Animal Defenders International says, “Animals are not fabric — they are sentient beings who suffer terribly and we must include them in our moral compass.”