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Fur flies as 30 protesters march outside Vancouver pelt auction
Lora Grindlay
The Province; News Services
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Anti-fur protesters marched outside a fur auction in Vancouver yesterday.
The auction, by American Legend Co-operative, is the largest of its kind in North America. It is the first time in the co-op's 100-year history that the sale has been held outside of its Seattle headquarters.
Farm-raised fur is sold for the first two days and wild fur will be auctioned off tomorrow by the Ontario-based Fur Harvesters.
About 30 protesters from Vancouver's Fur-Bearer Defenders handed out pamphlets outside the Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre where the auction was held.
"I care about animals and want to stop animal suffering," said protester Lesley Fox.
George Clements, director of the Fur-Bearer Defenders, charged that auction organizers are evading U.S. Justice Department officials by holding the sale in Vancouver. Last year, the U.S. government launched a probe into possible price-fixing in the fur industry.
"I'm surprised that Vancouver would allow these people to come in when they are under investigation," said Clements.
American Legend's Steve Boyer conceded that both the probe and the sale's timing led to Vancouver hosting the event.
"The way Chinese New Year fell it forced five major fur events across Europe, North America and Hong Kong to compress into roughly half the time," said Boyer.
lgrindlay@png.canwest.com
© The Vancouver Province 2005