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A PETA investigation in Ontario, Canada, revealed hunters luring bears using cookies, bagels, and greasy foods before shooting them and removing their internal organs. 😱 The hunters later skin the bears and may sell their fur to auction. Guess where some of this fur ends up? On the King’s Guard’s caps in the U.K. 💂 🤯 This shameful practice can’t go on—please speak up against the slaughter of bears.
Bears Lured With Cookies, Shot With Crossbows
Baiting bears with food is banned in parts of North America, and conservation groups see it as cruel and unsporting. Yet PETA’s disturbing investigation shows hunters luring the bears with buckets of food before shooting them with crossbows. 😡
A Slow, Painful Death
Bears who are shot def don’t always die on the spot. Some run away and endure a slow and extremely painful death from infection or blood loss. 😢 Hunters may only find them hours later—if they even bother to follow the bloody trail. As if this weren’t cruel enough, hunters may kill nursing mother bears during spring hunts, leaving behind cubs who can’t survive without them and starve. 😭
Fur Sold to the U.K.’s Ministry of Defence
After hunters slaughter the bears, they may keep the animals’ heads, claws, or other body parts as trophies (pretty sus if you ask us 😳) and sell the fur. Capmakers for the U.K.’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) buy slaughtered black bears’ fur and use it to make the King’s Guard’s caps.
PETA U.K. has given this footage to that country’s defense secretary, Grant Shapps, and called on the MoD to stop supporting this barbaric industry. The U.K. public says “hard agree”—95% of British people say they reject the use of animal fur. 😲 👏 PETA U.K. and faux-fur artisan ECOPEL have developed a faux fur that meets the MoD’s criteria for caps, so this should be a no-brainer switch—yet the ministry isn’t budging. 😒
498 Bears Killed in Just Six Years
It takes the skin of at least one bear—an individual with thoughts, feelings, and intentions—to make a single cap. According to public records., the MoD bought 498 bearskin hats between 2017 and 2022. That’s at least 498 bears killed in just six years. 😰
Canada’s Ceremonial Guard also wears fur hats. Although Canada’s Department of National Defence says these hats are made of fur that’s over 20 years old, wearing any fur sends the message that it’s OK to lure and kill animals for an ornament.
Where Do Bearskin Caps Come From?
The MoD has frequently claimed that the bear pelts used by the King’s Guard are a byproduct of a “cull” overseen by Canadian authorities, which is complete bs. 🤦 Here’s what really takes place: The Canadian government gives “tags” to hunters—like those seen in the footage above—who can then bait and kill several bears and sell their skin. The MoD is basically funding a blood sport. 😨 Wtaf.
Faux Bear Fur Is Available Right Now
As mentioned above, PETA U.K. and ECOPEL have created the world’s first faux bear fur that’s virtually the same as the real thing—laboratory tests straight-up confirm this, and it meets the MoD’s five criteria for a replacement fabric. 😊 👌 So why on Earth is the ministry still supporting the slaughter of bears? 🤷
What You Can Do
The U.K. needs to set a compassionate example by switching to high-tech, luxurious faux fur—and you can help nudge the country in the right direction. 😏 Please urge the U.S. ambassador to the U.K., Jane Hartley, to use her influence to help get bearskin replaced with faux fur for the King’s Guard’s caps.