I am a Democrat and I am appalled that Sen. Mark Kelly voted to keep alive the U.S.’s inhumane and virally dangerous mink farms.

 He was one of a small number of Democrats backing this form of factory farming for fur.

Message to Sen. Kelly: We don’t wear fur coats in Arizona. We don’t need them, and nobody else does either.

No major clothing retailers or designers work with fur any longer.

That’s why the remaining 60 mink farms in the U.S. ship their pelts to China.

The highly territorial, aggressive animals are known to cannibalize one another in their tight quarters.

But the kicker is the disease threat that captive mink on fur factories pose. Mink farms in Europe and the U.S. have spawned five deadly COVID-19 variants. These are the only confirmed cases of spillover of COVID-19 variants from animals to people. We export the pelts and China’s government outsources the viral risks to us.

This is an unconscionable vote, Sen. Kelly.