On June 12, at a restaurant in midtown Manhattan, in the heart of New York’ s shrinking fur district, a crowd of over 150 fur retailers and industry insiders gathered to honor one of their own. Keith Kaplan, executive director of the Fur Information Council of America, was awarded a Lifetime Achievement award. The honor was given to Kaplan in front of family and friends who flew in from California for the event. The evening also featured a special video tribute to Kaplan by the comedian Joan Rivers. 
One month later, Kaplan was out of a job. His contract runs out in mid-October. The Fur Information Council of America (FICA) is one of two national trade associations for the fur industry. Fur Commission USA works with fur farmers. FICA focuses on the retail and manufacturing side of the industry.
According to information leaked to Coalition Against Fur Farms, the decision to fire Kaplan was due to serious financial problems at FICA (Kaplan’s six-figure salary was the organization’s biggest single expense). The problems are so serious that FICA is having trouble paying its debts and there are fears that the organization will not survive. A big problem for FICA is that fur retailers are either unable or unwilling to financially support the organization. According to its tax returns, income from membership dues fell more than 50% between 2005 and 2010.