A series of street events to highlight a campaign to ban mink and fox fur farming will begin in Co Donegal today.
The campaign is being jointly run by Compassion in World Farming and Respect for Animals, the British-based group which was responsible for forcing the ban on fur farming in Britain from January 1st last.
A statement from CIWF said the event was being staged in Letterkenny, Co Donegal, because at least one of the State's eight fur farms was based in the county and was, until recently, the home of the Irish Fur Breeders' Association.
Ms Mary-Anne Bartlett, the director of Compassion in World Farming, Ireland, said it had been estimated there were approximately 140,000 mink and 1,700 Arctic fox being kept in captivity in the State.
They were being held, she said, in rows of small cages. Although the creatures were bred on the farms, they were essentially wild animals that suffered terribly in confined conditions where they could not carry out their natural instinctive behaviours.
"A recent report by the European Commission's Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Animal Welfare found serious animal welfare problems on fur farms, including farm mink and fox performing repeated meaningless behaviours, such as pacing around the walls of their cages over and over again," she said.
"Caged fox may kill their own young and farmed mink may bite and suck their own fur, even self-mutilating their tails and limbs," she added.
"Killing normally takes place on the farm. It is appalling that a veterinarian does not have to be present. Mink are suffocated in carbon monoxide while many fox are electrocuted by electrodes placed in their mouth and anus."
The protest, featuring a caged, human-sized "silver fox" called Freda, will take place at the Market Square, Letterkenny, at 11 a.m. today.
The public will be asked to sign a petition asking the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mr Walsh, to ban fur farming.