The People Have Spoken!

The UK cares about bears – that’s the finding of a recent poll commissioned by PETA Europe and conducted by the independent polling company YouGov. The poll revealed that the British public is overwhelmingly opposed to the slaughter of bears for the towering black ceremonial hats worn by the Queen’s Guards’ Regiments.

Nearly 70 per cent of people surveyed support an end to the use of real fur in making the hats. Nearly 80 per cent oppose the use of tax money to make bearskin hats; in the past five years, a staggering £321,000 has been spent on 494 bearskin hats.

It can take the entire pelt of one bear just to make one guard’s headpiece. Baby bears become “collateral damage” when their mothers are killed and they are left to starve to death. Nearly 50 per cent of people surveyed were not even aware that the guards’ hats were still made from the pelts of black bears cruelly killed in Canada.

Reflecting public sentiment, more than 200 British MPs signed an Early Day Motion (EDM 1756) calling on the Ministry of Defence to switch to faux fur, making it one of the most widely supported EDMs in the last parliamentary session. In light of such overwhelming public and parliamentary support, it’s time to switch to a modern synthetic material for the guards’ hats.

You Can Help
Please write to Secretary of State for Defence Des Browne and ask him to listen to the public and implement a fur-free policy throughout the British Army immediately:

The Rt Hon. Des Browne, MP
Secretary of State for Defence
Ministry of Defence, Main Building
London SW1A 2HB
+44 (0)207 218 9000 (ask for the office of Secretary Browne)
+44 (0)207 218 7140 (fax)
defencesecretary@mod.uk