Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, November 26, 1994                   TAG: 9411280034
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

PROTESTERS MAKE THEIR SEASONAL PITCH: DON'T BUY FUR COATS

The friends were fellow protesters, the coats were smeared with blood-colored paint, and the occasion was National Fur Free Friday.

"It's the busiest shopping day of the year," Davidson said.

In Roanoke and around the country, animal-rights activists like Davidson take advantage of the day-after-Thanksgiving consumer frenzy to make their point.

Six protesters chanted outside Hertzberg Furs on Campbell Avenue Southwest: "Don't be a fool. Fur is cruel."

Davidson said she and the others were protesting "the cruelty and torture that animals are put through for this industry." They carried posters asking passing drivers to honk in support, and a few did. Other posters, donated by the national People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, showed dramatic pictures of skinned foxes and animals caught in traps.

At one point, four police cars were lined up along the curb. There had been a question about the group's permit, but things were straightened out.

The protesters spent about an hour in front of Furs by Don on Church Avenue Southwest before moving to Hertzberg Furs.

Their fur coats were donated to animal-rights groups in Charlottesville and Lynchburg by people "who've had a change of heart," Davidson said. Those groups loaned them to her.

Sharon Floyd, from Amherst County, wore a three-quarter-length mink, with two steel traps clutching the fur and streaks of red paint.

"I feel strong enough about this to travel this far," she said. There are no major furriers in Lynchburg, she explained, then raised her placard high and shouted: "Fur is dead."

Marshall Clark had come to Hertzberg to shop for a leather coat when he ran into the "silly, environmental wackos," he said.

"I believe in conservation, but I'm also a hunter," he said. He thinks the animal-rights folks go overboard, he said.

"What about the cow she's wearing on her feet?" he said, pointing to Davidson's sneakers.

"Synthetic," she replied, and took one of them off.

"Made in China. Man-made material," she read.