About 20 members from the Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade (CAFT) showed up yesterday afternoon against the leather industry of mink, fox, rabbit, raccoon, chinchilla, coyote, sable and wolf or even cats and dogs – many of whom are skinned alive.

The protest took place between 2pm and 3pm in front of Barnardo's store on Grafton Street (Dublin 2) which, as its external sign says, has been famous for selling fur for exactly 200 years. Earlier on, from 1pm to 2pm, the demonstrators had been in front of another establishment of this kind, Sydney Vard Furriers, not far from Barnardo's.

According to organizers, Ireland has a secret industry where more than 200,000 animals are slaughtered each year and the legislation prepared by the Green Party to end this practice was shelved by the new tenants of the government, Fine Gael.

On the other hand, a number of councils around Ireland have already pledged their support on this by passing council bans on real fur. However, these bans do not apply to individual shops in their jurisdictions although it is considered a first step toward the total elimination of the fur industry here.

Apart from displaying banners they also distributed leaflets explaining the appalling conditions at the breeding farms and describing the cruel methods of manslaughter. On the document there is also a blacklist of farms that are spread across Ireland and shops selling fur goods in Dublin.

For more information visit www.naracampaigns.org