Fur Initiative

* In Al Martinez’s May 23 column, “Where the Fur Flew,” he suggested that the nearly 2,000 people who voted for the fur-coat labeling initiative ought to have used their cash, energy and “fiery rhetoric” on behalf of more worthy causes, such as gun control.

As one of those Martinez would characterize as an animal rights “zealot,” let me assure him that I and the majority of those who care about the welfare of animals also care about a lot of other things. Like gun control, child abuse, the environment and a hundred other critical issues that affect both man and beast. And we spend our time and money fighting for those causes, not shopping for fur coats made out of the skins of animals that, despite Martinez’s derisive rhetoric, were definitely not hugged to death or smothered in kisses.

JILL DONNER

Sherman Oaks