Dozens of people came to the area near Santa Monica Boulevard and Rodeo Drive on Black Friday — and none of them were interested in shopping.

Demonstrators gathered in Beverly Hills on Black Friday to protest the use of animal fur in apparel. (photo by Jonathan Van Dyke)

Instead, the group, led by In Defense of Animals, was protesting the sale of fur at one of Beverly Hills’ luxurious shopping hubs. The protestors were targeting stores like Prada, Coach, Dolce & Gabbana, Yves Saint Laurent, Michael Kors, Armani, Fendi, Max Mara and Ferragamo.

“This has been an annual gathering for what we call Fur Free Friday,” said Julia Orr, who later led the march via megaphone. “We have dubbed Rodeo Drive the bloodiest street in America and we come out every year to protest the sale of fur in the high-end stores here.”

Orr said the protest was part of dozens around the country, and she added that other groups were performing similar protests in Los Angeles.

She added that the cause is as simple as asking for the humane treatment of animals.

“The animals that are farmed for fur are kept in horrendous conditions,” she said. “They’re kept in very small wire cages. They self-injure through frustration. They don’t ever have anywhere comfortable to sit and they’re basically starved. When they are killed, they are killed in really cruel ways … because the fur has to be intact to make clothes out of them. They have to find ways to kill them that doesn’t damage the fur, which is usually very cruel.”

According to Orr and World Society for the Protection of Animals, fur farmed animals can be killed via gassing, drowning and anal electrocution. Animals that are farmed for furs include minks, raccoons, chinchillas, foxes and even cats and dogs (imported from China). The group estimates that approximately 60 million mink and 6.5 million foxes are killed at fur farms every year.

“It’s surprising how many people don’t understand where fur comes from,” Orr said. “They just pick it up and think it is a lovely luxurious item and they don’t think about the animals — how they’ve been caught or trapped or killed.”

As the protestors gathered on Friday, they were joined by West Hollywood Mayor John D’Amico, who has been an anti-fur advocate since he took office — leading the charge on his city’s fur ban.

“It’s a small thing in a large movement about humane care for animals and the earth at-large,” he said. “If we think smartly about the way we live in the world, the world will respond.”

West Hollywood approved its fur ban on Nov. 21, 2011, and it was officially enacted on Sept. 21, 2013. It bans the sale of any personal attire, clothing or garment, which is composed in whole or in part from the pelt or skin of any animal with its hair, fleece (wool) or fur attached. There are some exceptions regarding nonprofits, taxidermy animals and second-hand usage.

“I think, really, that what West Hollywood has shown with our ordinance is that compassion is the fashion,” D’Amico said, adding that the city had approximately 30 clothing stores open in the last couple of years regardless of the ban. “The idea that a fur free city would chill business is just not what happened. In fact, the opposite happened. We have found that our city has been embraced.”

Since the ordinance was enacted, there has been one challenge, which was a federal court filing by Mayfair House Inc., a luxury retailer located at 8844 Beverly Blvd.

Earlier this year, Judge George King of the U.S. District Court of the Central District of California dismissed the lawsuit.

After that, Mayfair filed in state court. According to Christof Schroeder, legal services and legislative affairs manager for West Hollywood, the city’s demurrer (a pleading in a lawsuit that objects to or challenges a filing) is pending, and arguments are set for early 2015.

“We feel the city attorney wrote a very strong ordinance that is going to stand up,” D’Amico said. “It’s going to be, we believe, the model for other cities.”

D’Amico added that he was happy to join the protestors and speak with them, but that it was not his practice to go before other city governing bodies to advocate directly for a law similar to West Hollywood’s, and that nobody had come to West Hollywood for advice on enacting a similar law elsewhere in the county.

Orr said she and the protestors hope that West Hollywood’s law is a watershed moment, something that gains momentum now that it has been in place for a little more than a year.

“I think we have to go that route and put laws in,” she said. “Look at the videos and educate yourself — you don’t have to take our word for it. This is an extremely cruel trade. There are so many other options. There are amazing fake furs coming out of Italy now. Animals are not our clothes.”