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Show Tuesday, December 5, 1989 THE HERAIJJ, Frovo, Utah. - Furriers fight Ibaek against animal rights protesters - BOSTON (AP) American furriers are feeling the heat and it's not from their mink coats. Increased pressure from animal rights advocates picketing fur stores, holding annual "Fur-Fre-e Fridays" and chanting slogans like "Buy a fur and slip into something dead" have taken a toll. Now the fur industry is fighting back. Fur manufacturers, some facing financial losses, recently hired one of the world's largest public relations agencies to represent them and have paid for dramatic newspaper ads claiming activists will soon tell people not to eat meat. "If those people really want to be socially conscious, they shouldn't wear gold jewelry or diamonds from South Africa or leather shoes," said Gary Lennad, owner of Jay Lennad Furs, one of the largest fur stores in the Boston area. Last month, the New York firm of sent out kits to fur retailers that included guidelines for handling the media and demonstratdealing with anti-fu- r ions. The kit also included a hotline number for furriers faced with questions about the fur trade and provided form letters for use in writing letters to the editor. Burson-Marstell- er The fur industry also took out ads twice last month in The New York Times Sunday editions that read, in part, "Today fur. Tomorrow leather, then wool. Then meat." Fur farmers have also joined the effort. Marsha Kelly, associate executive director of the Fur Farm Animal Welfare Coalition in St. Paul, Minn., said the coalition is "redoubling efforts to the public about the industry." Fur farmers are being briefed on issues, educational materials about the fur industry are being sent to schools, and a communications network has been established linking fur farmers around the country, Kelly said. The public relations effort faces an uphill battle. Magazine and billboard advertisements paid for by animal rights groups have become and increasingly more common graphic. e A ad in this month's Spy magazine contains photographs of a trapper approaching a fox whose leg is caught in a trap, then standing on the animal and suffocating him. full-pag- Ads at bus stops in New York City depict a leghold trap with a raccoon's foot caught in it. Another print ad shows a simple leghold trap accompanied by the words "Get a Feel for Fur. Slam Your Fingers in a Car Door." Other anti-fu- r tactics are on the rise as well. The fourth annual "Fur-Fre- e Friday" last month drew 2,500 animal rights activists in a march in New York City. Protesters also targeted a dozen other cities. More than 140 celebrities, including Paul and Linda McCartney, Kim Basinger, Carol Burnett, Art Linkletter and Christie Brinkley, have signed anti-fu- r statements circulated by the animal rights group Beauty Without Cruelty. Animal rights activists claim fur farming is inhumane and caters to vanity. The furriers maintain that the protesters are infringing on freedom of choice. They also claim that the fur Industry is strictly billion, the boom has since leveled regulated and that animals receive out. The Fur Vault, the country's second-largeexcellent care. American fur chain, "A rat is a pig is a dog is a boy," reported losses of over $7 million in said Robert Meltzer, president of the last two years. Its retail operaEvans Inc. of Chicago, the nation's tion is for sale. The two other largest retailer of fur, repeating a publicly held fur companies in the phrase used often by furriers and United States also reported recent their representatives. "This is just considerable quarterly earnings the beginning for them. This is all losses. about freedom of choice. They're But industry spokesmen insist trying to take away First Amend- business is basically good and ment rights." blame any losses on recent warm not winters and a soft economy Despite the hiring of Burson-Marstelllast summer and the protesters. "There's been no impact on businewspaper ads last month, the fur industry denies animal rights ness," said Richard Parsons, execuprotesters have had an impact on tive director of the Fur Information business. Most say the public relaCouncil of America. "The impetus tions effort is an attempt to fore(for the newspaper adsi was a stall any future harm. feeling among the furriers that the Though the fur industry tripled public was ready to hear from the sales from 1979 to 198G, jumping fur industry. Our customers were from $850 million yearlv to $1.8 asking, what's the story?" st er Designation opposed for desert tortoises ST. GEORGE, anchers and Utah (AP) -R- local governmental representatives voiced overwhelming opposition at a public hearing to the federal government's proposed designation of the Mojave desert tortoise as an endangered species. Of the 20 29 9 persons testifying Wednesday, three favored permanent designation of the tortoise under the Endangered Species Act, the rest opposed the measure. The proposal follows the federal agency's Aug. 4 emergency decision to list the Mojave population as endangered. That decision continues until April 1, 1990. The Mojave desert tortoise is found in California, Nevada and Arizona in addition to southwestern Utah. The USFWS action comes after the outbreak of a fatal respiratory disease the agency contends has resulted in major declines in the number of tortoises. Under the proposed regulation, the Beaver Dam Slope subpopula-tio- n in Utah, listed as threatened in 1980, would come under the endangered listing. Designation of a species as endangered makes federal agencies more cautious about 'supporting development near the species' habitat. Rick Guldan, aide to Rep. Jim said the wildlife Hansen, service is going to extremes and no one has provided a conclusive study that would warrant the protection. If there is a problem with the tortoise, Hansen sympathizes, but his sympathies lie more with the economic realities of southern Utah, Guldan said. Bob Nicholson, St. George community development director, testified the proposal seemed premature because evidence appeared to be inconclusive why tortoise populations are declining. He said there is no evidence of respiratory diseases in tortoise populations near St. George, nor is there evidence nearby populations are declining. Tortoise protection measures should be site specific and targeted to certain population groups rather than across the board, effecting all tortoise habitats, said Nicholson. He suggested extending the emergency listing past April 2, 1990 while further studies are completed. Biologist Russell Bezette of Hurricane, who spent eight years studying desert tortoise populations in Washington County, said disturbances of the animals as the result of collections, vandalism and urbanization have hurt the populations and without wildlife reserves and more intensive management protection, tortoises will suffer severely. The listing of the tortoise as endangered is an important step in ensuring their continued survival, said Bezette. He said the respiratory disease syndrome exists in the Beaver Dam Slope tortoise population, as well as in the Hurricane area and in the St. George Pioneer Park on the Red Hill. John Keeler, southern regional manager of the Utah Farm Bureau, opposed the listing. He said environmentalist groups were pressing to get livestock grazing off public lands, but that no one knows the effects of grazing on tortoise habi- tat. Keeler contended that grazing actually provides food and habitat for desert tortoises. Richard Crouse, American Farm Bureau, said the proposed listing lumped all tortoise populations in Utah, Nevada, Arizona and California into one group but there are many distinctive tortoise populations with differing disease and habitat problems. The USFWS has not attempted to identify where the species is doing well, said Crouse. Additionally, the listing will not help the tortoise's disease, he said. "The listing seems to be short on scientific facts and long on assumptions," said St. George livestock-ma- n Duane Blake. Jeanine Hayworth of the Five County livestock Association said environmentalists are using every power they have to bring the rancher in from the range. Written comments on the proposal will be accepted until Jan. 11. Hoiy do you get lower interest rates on your credit card? Let us count the ways. Do you deserve a reward for being a steady customer at your bank? 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