Farmed mink peeking out of its nest box (Truth About Fur)

Since it was learned that COVID-19 can pass from humans to mink, farmers in the United States have put in place strict biosecurity protocols to protect their animals, their families, and public health. But instead of supporting farmers through this difficult period, animal activists -- like Priscilla Feral, who wrote about "The Covid Mink Slaughter" in these pages last week -- are fanning fears that new mink-specific

An activist at a City Council hearing (photo: John McCarten/City Council)

Word from European countries that they will be killing millions of minks because of coronavirus outbreaks jumping from animals to humans on farms is shockingly upsetting.

But the real offense here is that the minks were being farmed to be killed anyway for the fur industry and that atrocity doesn’t really garner headlines anymore.

By now the world is aware that zoonotic diseases – diseases that spread from animals to humans such as COVID-19, Ebola, HIV, H1N1, Mad Cow

(photo: @theanimalvoters)

The world around us is changing. People are making more ethical choices concerning the environment and the welfare of other species. We’re starting to use less plastic because of the impact it has on our oceans and ocean life. More and more people are choosing vegan milks and meats as they come to understand the ill effects that factory farming has on the planet.

A ban on fur in New York City would be a step in the same ethical direction.

New York has long been considered a fashion Mecca. We have always set the pace for others to follow, but on the issue

(photo: Pixabay License)

Industries that exploit and abuse animals have a lot of money and a lot to hide. Whether it be the fur industry, which abuses and kills animals for their skins, or the foie gras industry, which rams a foot-long pipe down the throats of innocent ducks for a luxury food item, resorting to Trump-like tactics of lies, fear-mongering, and bullying is a telltale sign that you’re on the wrong side of history.

In New York City, we have two of the most abusive and morally bankrupt industries on earth -- fur and foie gras -- spending hundreds of