"Rash" of Activism Hits Fur Stores

Itching Powder Gets under Pelt Pushers' Skin

Animal advocates itching to get their anti-fur message out in time for the January fur sales have a new way to make people scratch fur off their shopping lists. Stores selling fur garments at Coronado Mall in Albuquerque, NM have been hit by "The Scratch Squad," an unidentified group of fur foes who rub itching powder into fur and fur-trimmed garments, including gloves and hats.

Macy's, Foley's, J.C. Penney, and Sears, all of which sell fur-lined or fur-trimmed garments, have reportedly been targeted by the Scratch Squad, whose goal is to take fur-sellers to the cleaners and make fur-wearers' experience a tiny taste of the discomfort they inflict on animals.

Animal advocates encouraged by the 50 percent cut in fur sales over the past five years have stepped up their campaign to send the fur industry over the brink to extinction. Tens of thousands of minks have been liberated from fur farms this year, and stores from coast to coast have been the targets of angry and vocal protests, including more than one hundred arrests at Christmas time.

Itching powder is available from most joke and novelty stores at about $1.00 a package. We are not, of course, recommending its use.