Animal activists cause pause on Yakima Ave.

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Half-naked women standing on the street do tend to raise some eyebrows, regardless of their cause.

And the pair of scantily clad animal-rights activists at the corner of Third Street and Yakima Avenue on Thursday certainly drew more attention from pedestrians and more honks from passing cars than the labor demonstrators directly across the street.

"I kind of like their sign better," said Nicholas Kinzel, one of the Carpenters Local 770 demonstrators in front of Chase Bank.

It helped that the sign was wrapped around the otherwise topless -- but covered with pasties and scarves -- women from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. The women, 25-year-old Virginia Fort of Norfolk, Va., and 28-year-old Nicole Matthews of Michigan, spent an a cold hour holding the sign protesting against the wearing of fur and leather products.

Not everybody was as receptive to the women as Kinzel.

"What do their mothers say about this?" said Susan La Riviere, a Yakima woman who disapproved of the tactic but nevertheless stopped to take pictures of the pair.

The women did not run afoul of city law, because there was no visible nudity, said Yakima police Sgt. Tim Bardwell.

• This report has been updated to note specific reason for the event.