Landeskunde USA – Animal protection problems ¨¨ Jet-Set skiers run into anti-fur storm SPEN, the fashionable winter playground for America’s jet-set, where the average house price is $1.1 million (£666,000) and hedonism is a way of life, seems an unlikely setting for the debate of an emotionally-charged issue that could have worldwide repercussions. A Although the town, set in the Colorado Rockies, is dependent on its tourists for survival, it is those expensively- dressed, fur-clad visitors who find themselves unwittingly in the eye of a gathering storm. For as the rich and famous ski by day and party by night, the town’s 3,500 electors are preparing to go to the polls to vote on whether to make Aspen the first city in the world to ban the sale of fur coats made from wild animals. It is an issue that has turned the picturesque resort into something like a war zone, with the strident pro- and anti-ban fractions flinging insults and accusations against each other. It is also directly responsible for a separate motion on the ballot to oust from office the pro-ban mayor and three city councillors. To the unknowing visitors, it may seem a pointless battle. There are only a handful of fur shops in Aspen, and many of the furs in the town have flown in on the backs of visitors. But since Aspen was the first city in the U.S. to ban smoking in restaurants – a trend that mushroomed across the country – it is being seen as an issue of national importance. Nowadays, Aspen, which was once so proud of its community spirit, is a divided town. On one side is bookshop owner Katherine Thalberg, 54. She and her husband, Bill Sterling, the town’s mayor, run the Aspen Society for Animal Rights. On the other side is the Aspen Concerned Citizens Coalition, headed by local fur shop manager Mark Kirkland, which is opposed to the ban. Both sides are pouring money into the fight with television and full-page newspaper ad- vertisements. The Animals Rights Society’s advertisements show graphic pictures of creatures with their legs caught in steel traps and the caption: “Fur. It’s Not a Pretty Business.” The Concerned Citizens Coalition is countering with: hm-abo – März 1990 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75
