City Council Speaker Corey Johnson wants to ban fur clothes for sale in the five boroughs of New York City, excepting used apparel and that "sourced exclusively from used fur" (how will Department of Consumer Affairs sleuths ever tell?) and, of course, fur worn for religious reasons (rest easy, Hasidim).
We don't mind private citizens making a stink over mink, pound the table over sable or put a pox on fox. We get those who are revolted by wearing dead animal products. Hell, it's respectable to live life as a vegan.
But it is rich indeed for city government in the name of animal rights to outright ban the sale of fur, an important piece of an important New York industry, while allowing sale, on a scale that dwarfs the fur industry, of cow leather and sheepskin (and no, the leather on your Chinese-made shoe is not produced under conditions regulated by federal authorities).
And while allowing sale by the tons, in supermarkets and restaurants, of meat and eggs and dairy from animals that, we suspect _ though no animals were interviewed in the making of this editorial _ would rather not be exploited. Including veal, which comes from calves.
The slope is slippery because, let's be honest, lots of animals bleed on it.
Johnson and the Council enjoy the symbolism of a fur ban, but they wouldn't dare go after the many other ways humans benefit from inexpensive and plentiful protein and, well, just plain tasty food. Would they?
