Vegans have chosen the day after Turkey-Free Thanksgiving
as their traditional day to demonstrate in favor of synthetic,
petrochemical-based clothing and against natural fiber clothing,
including fur. This year, they stood for an hour or so in Park City,
Utah, just after an Arctic storm illustrated why people love fur’s
insulating properties — the temperature peaked at 18F during the day
and plummeted to below zero at night.
Dressed in layers of cotton, hemp, synthetic fibers and pleather (plastic) shoes,
20 vegans expressed their dissatisfaction with clothing stores offering
their clients a full range of natural fibers. The crowds flowed around
them, dressed in silk, wool, felt, leather, and furs such as shearling (sheepskin), mink, rabbit, fox and more.
The shoppers bought lots of Black Friday bargains, including many
animal-based clothing products like leather shoes, sheepskin boots,
wool sweaters, fur-lined trappers’ hats. For lunch, most people enjoyed
fried chicken, buffalo burgers, steaks and shakes. Absolutely none of
these decisions pleased the protesting vegans.
The next day, the same group,
reduced to 15, protested outside a mink farm in South Jordan, near Salt
Lake City. And, while they’d secured permits to protest Sunday and
Monday in the mink farming
towns of Coalville and Morgan, no one showed up as snow peacefully
blanketed the towns and temperatures dropped to minus 15 at night and
single digits during the day.
While the vegans are welcome
to their opinion, most people, being omnivores, happily choose wonderful
natural fibers as they dress warmly for the winter chill — in Utah and
around the world.
On Thanksgiving we thank our
maker, those who protect our right to free speech and those who provide
us with food and fiber from plants AND animals, both wild and
domesticated.
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
NOTE: Here are some pictures taken Thanksgiving weekend 2010 in Park City, Coalville and Morgan, Utah.
In 2009, it wasn’t anywhere near as cold and so the vegans actually did show up to protest in Morgan, Utah, the first in the town’s history!