Group targets last fur store in Portland

PORTLAND – After driving one store out of business, animal rights activists are targeting the last remaining store in the city that sells furs.

Protests led by a fledgling group called the Portland Animal Defense League have intensified in recent weeks at Nicholas Ungar Furs.

The only other fur retailer in Portland, Schumacher Furs and Outerwear, closed after a 15-month campaign against the store.

Unlike Schumacher owners Greg and Linda Schumacher, who were eager to confront the protesters and talk to the media about what they saw as an unfair attack, Ungar Furs owner Horst Grimm declined to comment.

Activists say the goal in the Schumacher campaign was to educate consumers. But this time, they say, it’s about ridding downtown of an outdated industry.

“Basically 20 years ago, there were about 20 full-service fur salons,” said Tim Fox, an Animal Defense League spokesman. “Now downtown Portland only has one left. As the public learns the truth about the cruelty of the fur industry, I think most people will want them out, too.”

Demonstrators say they’re protesting what they claim is Ungar’s practice of selling fur from animals that have been gassed, electrocuted or their necks snapped, and have been skinned in inhumane ways.

One of the leaders in the earlier protests at the Schumacher store, In Defense of Animals, has decided to sit out the latest demonstrations.

Matt Rossell, spokesman for the group, said he doesn’t agree with the goal of trying to drive the Ungar store out of business. “Our goal was never to shut down Schumacher’s,” he said. “We’re watching what’s happening, but we felt a lot of education has already been accomplished because of the Schumacher protests.”

Since last winter the protests outside Nicholas Ungar Furs have grown from a handful of demonstrators to as many as a few dozen every weekend with signs, chants and at least one heated exchange with Grimm.

The store was closed Memorial Day weekend, but a group still showed up to write educational messages on the sidewalk in chalk, Fox said.

A message on Portland’s Indymedia Web site read: “The animals used for Ungar’s unethical products do not get holidays off, and Ungar Furs will not get any Saturdays off.”

Sgt. Brian Schmautz, a Portland police spokesman, said he was not aware of any complaints about the latest protests. “No one has come up to me and said this a problem,” Schmautz said.

He added that the Schumachers’ reaction to demonstrators outside their store may have led to much of the tension in the earlier protests.