A new Irish group which wants the Government to ban fur farming held its inaugural street protest in Dublin at the weekend. The Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade (Ireland) says it will target major fur retailers as well as the seven fur farms in the State.
Some 10 coalition members carried a coffin of bloodied furs on a procession through Dublin on Saturday. They held short protests outside three fur shops.
A coalition member, Mr Robert O'Maoilbhreannan, said the Irish branch of the international group was set up in response to the recent perceived fashion revival of furs.
"I'm not totally convinced that fur is coming back into fashion because the production of fox fur was down by 23 per cent worldwide last year and mink was down by 10 per cent. So really I would think it's more of a bluff because the fur trade is trying to re-promote their clothing and many people will be falling for this," he said.
Mr O'Maoilbhreannan, who is also a member of the Association of Hunt Saboteurs, said "public outreach" was an important aim of the new group which would highlight animal abuses and "counteract" the fur trade.
"It's only a minority of people who wear fur and support the trade. We want to get that point across to people and to get more people involved," he said.
The group says 130,000 mink and many thousand foxes are killed by the fur trade in Ireland every year. The animals spend their lives in small mesh cages and are killed by various crude methods, including anal electrocution, strangulation, gassing, neck-snapping and poisoning to avoid damage to their skins, according to the coalition.
Mr O'Maoilbhreannan said the public response to Saturday's parade had been positive. "There will be more to come because it [the campaign] will be mainly based around the fur shops in Dublin but we will also be taking on fur farms and pressing the Government for a ban on fur farming."