COSTA MESA : Anti-Fur Activists Stage Plaza Protest

Followed by security guards, about 50 animal rights activists marched through South Coast Plaza on Friday afternoon and presented Robinson’s department store the head of a mink for being what one protester described as “the cruelist retailer of the year.”

During a short speech in the store’s fur section, Ava Park, founder of Orange County People for Animals, conveyed the organization’s award--the skin and head of a mink spattered with red paint--to a Robinson’s manager.

“You’re not free to torture your pet, abuse your wife, beat your children,” Park told the gathering. “You shouldn’t be allowed to mistreat animals. We’ll be out here every year until there are no more furs sold in Orange County.”

She predicted that the fur industry would be dead in 20 years and called Robinson’s “the cruelist retailer of the year.” Department store officials declined to comment.

The award capped more than three hours of peaceful protest along Bristol Street in front of the shopping center, where demonstrators carried signs, saying “Fur Is Dead,” “End Animal Agony Now,” and “Wearing Fur Is a Sign of Ignorance and Indifference.”

Ravey Blumfield, 22, a protester, said he hoped the march would discourage potential fur buyers by emphasizing “the cruelty that goes on behind the glamour.”

“I think it’s pretty stupid that animals should die so that some rich people can impress their friends at a dinner party,” Blumfield said.

Many people, including some of Robinson’s sales staff, applauded the activists for the march.

But others grumbled, saying the protesters were too extreme.

“I got really livid,” said one shopper who asked not to be identified. “They try and attack my privilege as a consumer, and try and intimidate me into believing in their cause. I know that we live in a free country and that freedom of speech is important to all of us, but they were stepping over the line.”