IT seemed a million miles from sunny Spain but a plucky trio of protesters stripped off to give shoppers an eyeful in Bolton town centre.

They braved the chilly, overcast weather to urge others to follow their lead by taking part in the annual Running Of The Nudes in Pamplona, Navarra, northern Spain, on July 5.

Upwards of 1,000 people will travel from across Europe to run naked through the streets in protest against the city's nine-day Running of the Bulls festival, which begins two days later.

The protesters, from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), claim bulls are hit with sharp sticks and electric prods to make them stampede along the 825-metre course through the city's streets to its bullring.

One of the protesters will be 18-year-old Rivington and Blackrod sixth-form student Cara Bridge, from Horwich, who took time out from revising for her A-levels to strip off in Victoria Square yesterday.

"It might be cold but I've always cared about animals and this is a good way to get our point across about what the bulls have to go through," she said.

"I was nervous beforehand because it's the first time I've done anything like this but we've had quite a positive reaction.

"I'm a little bit apprehensive about the run in Spain but I'm willing to suffer a little bit of embarrassment for the cause."

Thousands of tourists attend the Running of the Bulls each year, when participants risk life and limb by charging ahead of the bulls.

But PETA's Lauren Bowey claimed surveys had shown 72 per cent of Spanish citizens had no interest in bullfighting.

"It really is a tourist-fuelled industry," she said.

"Visitors are going, thinking it's part of the culture but are then leaving early because they're disgusted.

"Tormenting and butchering animals is an ugly old tradition and we're asking Brits to join the Running of the Nudes to help draw attention to the fact that bullfights must end."