Massachusetts: Ask Your State Legislators to Ban Fur Sales

An Act Prohibiting the Sale of Fur Products (H.965/S.623), sponsored by Representative Jack Patrick Lewis and Senator John Velis, would ban the sale of new fur products, including clothing, fashion accessories, and home décor, in the Commonwealth.

On fur farms, animals like foxes and minks are typically confined to tiny wire cages for virtually their entire lives. Unable to engage in most of their natural behaviors, animals on fur farms routinely resort to self-mutilation, obsessive pacing, and infanticide. Undercover investigations on fur farms have uncovered egregious cruelty — including animals being skinned alive.

Fur farms can also be breeding grounds for zoonotic diseases. Mink fur farms in the U.S. and around the globe have become hot spots for COVID-19. Minks are the only animal known to both catch the virus from people and transmit it to them. To protect public health, European governments killed nearly 20 million minks in 2020. Numerous countries have already banned fur farming or the sale of fur products. In 2019, California became the first state to ban the sale of new fur products. Wellesley passed the first-in-the-nation fur-free law outside of California in 2020.

We are grateful to Representative Jack Patrick Lewis and Senator John Velis for introducing this important legislation.

Please call your state legislators, then send a follow-up email, urging them to co-sponsor An Act Prohibiting the Sale of Fur Products (H.965/S.623). If you live in Representative Lewis’ or Senator Velis’ district, you can send an email thanking them for sponsoring the bill. Find your legislators on the Massachusetts Legislature’s website. 

1. Call your state legislators. If you’re able to make a phone call, please do so as phone calls have a greater impact than emails. You can use this message: “As your constituent, I urge you to support An Act Prohibiting the Sale of Fur Products (H.965/S.623), and ban the sale of new fur products in Massachusetts.”

2. After calling, please send a follow-up email to your state senator using the form below. Personalizing your message will help it stand out.