Fur Protesters Bare Their Message

They promised “naked,” but five women who marched against fur in snowy, 10-degree weather had at least enough sense to wear underpants, elf slippers and red Santa hats.

Pre-frostbite red climbed all 10 legs as the women shuffled a few blocks through downtown Anchorage at a brisk clip, carrying a strategically placed plastic banner that proclaimed “We’d rather be naked than wear fur.”

“Compassion is fashion, fur is dead,” they chanted as bemused, fully clothed spectators stopped to gape.

They only dropped the banner once.

Similar scenes were enacted in cities across the country by members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, a Virginia-based animal rights organization, on “Fur-free Friday.”

“There’s a thin line between stupid and crazy,” mused onlooker Jesse Gatwood, a basketball referee from Little Rock, Ark., who was in town for a college tournament.

He was bundled up in an overcoat and gloves.

PETA spokeswoman Violet Kelly of Norfolk, Va., the near-naked coordinator in town at the invitation of local PETA people, said real PETA people don’t even use wool because some sheep can get vermin after they’re sheared.

Kelly said her chilling experience was “nothing compared to what the animals go through.”

Several people cheered the women on.

But nothing got as much reaction from the crowd as the two words one blonde, nearly naked protester said to a tall, warmly dressed man in the crowd: “Hi, Dad.”