THE ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVISTS YVONNE TAYLOR AND JULIANNE McCHEYNE

The thought of stripping naked in public would have most people breaking out in a cold sweat. But for animal rights campaigners Yvonne Taylor and Julianne McCheyne it's simply a case of grin . . . and bare it. Their protests have taken them around the globe, with the pair making the headlines most recently for bringing traffic to a standstill in Milan as they campaigned in the buff against the leather industry.

Taylor and McCheyne shed their clothes and walked along the Italian fashion capital's main shopping streets last September, naked except for a banner which read: "We'd rather bare skin than wear skin."

"No matter how many times you do it, it's still nerve-wracking, " says Taylor, who is 33.

"On that occasion we only had one banner, so our plan was to hold that in front of us and stand against a wall. But the Italian police moved us on and we had to walk right down the centre of the street with our bums on show.

I remember turning round and seeing all these photographers behind us just snapping away."

McCheyne, who is 28, agrees: "As we were walking along I kept saying to myself over and over, 'It's for the animals.'" The women met a decade ago while on an anti-circus demonstration in Glasgow. They became friends and have worked together regularly ever since. Taylor is the campaign co-ordinator for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) in Europe, having previously worked for the group Advocates for Animals. McCheyne runs her own animal rights group in Glasgow.

Neither is a stranger to using high-profile stunts to gain attention for their cause. Taylor is the more experienced, having stormed catwalks around the world, chained herself to a car at a motor show in Birmingham and stripped to a G-string and high heels at an international fur fair in Beijing. In February she dressed as Little Bo Peep in Edinburgh to highlight Peta's campaign against cruel techniques used by Australian sheep farmers. "It is not gratuitous and I hope people can see that, " says Taylor.

"I'm not a mad exhibitionist. Neither of us is."

In July they will go to Pamplona in Spain for the Running of the Nudes, an alternative festival held to protest against the world-famous Running of the Bulls. Campaigning at the G8 summit in Gleneagles is also a possibility, but they have no concrete plans.

Taylor was eight when she made her first collection tin - "cardboard, very Blue Peter" - to raise money to help animals. She collected pounds-15, which she presented to the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Vivisection at its offices in her home town of Edinburgh. It is a passion that has never left her. At 23 she spent six months working as an intern for Peta - famous for its "We'd rather go naked than wear fur" campaign - and even pulled stunts in front of the White House in Washington.

Following one protest in America, she lost her shoes and had to appear in court wearing the giant feet from a rat costume. She recalls having to stand sideways in the dock to accommodate the outsize footwear as court officials stifled their laughter nearby. She was later released without charge.

"The thing I love about Peta is that they are so over the top and in your face, but at the same time they campaign with an element of humour, " she explains. "They are very creative in the different methods they use to get their message across."

McCheyne, meanwhile, has been involved in animal rights since she was ten, when she came across a stall in her home town of Glasgow where campaigners were handing out leaflets protesting against factory farming. "I became a vegetarian that day and haven't eaten meat since, " she says. "My mum thought it was just a phase, but if she ever tried to give me meat I would feed it to the cats." An actress by profession, she regularly misses out on work because of her campaigning commitments. She smiles and shrugs. "Being able to do these things that help bring the message home to people is extremely important to me, " she says. "People are definitely becoming more aware."

Not all of Peta's methods are cheeky, lighthearted stunts, though. The group's literature includes graphic images of animal vivisection.

One of its videos, says Taylor, shows a bloodsplattered fox - fully skinned, but still breathing. "When I see things like that it makes me wonder how people can be interested for a little while but then lose interest and walk away, " she says. "If you feel strongly about something like this, you must do your very best to try and stop it.

"People used to laugh at animal rights campaigners: you know, the whole Save the Whales thing, portraying us as tree-huggers who only eat lentil burgers. There is a wellknown saying, though, that there are three stages to every movement: first they laugh, next they demonise you - and then you win."