Activists Protest Fur Farm in Co. Laois

national | animal rights | press release Monday September 29, 2008 01:49 by Laura Broxson - CAFT Ireland caftireland at yahoo dot ie PO Box 11019, Dublin 2

***CAFT IRELAND PRESS RELEASE***

ACTIVISTS VISIT CO. LAOIS TO PROTEST IRELAND'S LARGEST FUR FARM

Contact CAFT Ireland spokesperson: Laura Broxson - 086 8729 444

Yesterday, Saturday 27th September, over a dozen members of Ireland's Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade (CAFT) organised another successful "Fur Farm Awareness Day" in Co. Laois.

"We started off the day by setting up an information table and visual display in Portlaoise, which gathered a lot of support from passers-by. We also had teams of people leafleting all around the town - and we received huge support from local shops and restaurants, who took bundles of our leaflets for their customers to take." says CAFT spokesperson, Laura Broxson

"We then headed to Stradbally, to protest Ireland's largest fur farm, Vasa Ltd (which was recently raided by the Animal Liberation Front). They murder over 45,000 mink on this death camp every year - so we weren't about to go easy on them. We spent over an hour and a half shouting on megaphones, leaving them in no doubt as to why we were there. Employees of the farm kept coming down to briefly look at us, and even people driving by stopped to watch. It was a very successful day." she said.

"Fur farming is Ireland's secret shame - if more people knew about them, the quicker they would be closed down. But as long as people are being kept unaware, the Department of Agriculture are happy to keep these death camps in business, by licensing them. We cannot stress enough how important that people voice their objections to this disgusting industry, whether it's joining our campaigns, or writing to the Minister of Agriculture, something needs to be done - now.

We campaign on a weekly basis to close Ireland's fur farms, and we have now committed to making these awareness days in Laois more frequent, so if anyone would like to get involved, please get in touch: http://www.naracampaigns.org " she added.

FACTS:

Ireland currently has 6 mink farms and at least 1 fox farm, where a total of 150,000 animals are murdered every year.

Mink are kept in cages with a floor space equivalent of just 2 shoe boxes. They are usually gassed to death by carbon monoxide - 40 mink at a time are put into the killing box. Gassing often doesn't work, many are skinned alive.

Foxes are kept in cages just 1 metre square (2 fox per cage). They are killed by electrocution - utilising a 12 volt car battery with a transformer of 200 volts. Electrodes are clamped to their mouth while rods are inserted into their rectum and an extremely painful death ensues.