For me, this is a very peculiar situation. It’s a long-standing situation with PETA consistently arguing that the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) need to change their ways and move away from genuine bearskin caps which are both inordinately expensive and cruel in their manufacture and move towards faux fur bearskin caps which according to the luxury faux furrier ECOPEL and PETA outperforms real fur in laboratory testing.
Here we have the opportunity to stop being cruel to bears in Canada and obtain absolutely free of charge faux fur bearskin caps from ECOPEL for 10 years! Yes, this supplier has promised to provide them free of charge for 10 years and yet the MoD in their wisdom has decided to pay £2,040 per bearskin, a recent increase of 31%.
MORE: bearskin hats – some more articles on this sad topic.
A spokesperson for the MoD said:
“We are open to exploring faux fur alternatives if they pass the necessary requirements including safety and durability considerations, though no alternative has met all those criteria to date.”
So, on the one hand we have laboratory tests which tells us that the faux fur bearskin caps outperform the real thing which should tell the MoD that they are good enough and that they meet all their criteria. Clearly, their criteria are different to the criteria in the laboratory testing.
On that basis, we need to get the MoD together with ECOPEL to thrash out this difference and make sure that this faux fur which is clearly very capable of being a good substitute exactly meets MoD requirements. I am sure that this fur can meet those requirements. I’m very surprised that there is this schism between the MoD and the manufacturer and PETA. It shouldn’t exist.
The MoD has said that an alternative material would need to meet five standards including appearance, compression and water absorption.
The MoD are doing themselves no favours in being so obdurate in refusing to introduce faux fur bearskin caps because the Times pollster Populus found that 75% of Britons consider the caps to be a “bad use of government funds”.
In addition, a YouGov poll showed that 78% of people with an opinion on the matter support the switch to faux fur. The general public want to see the military wear fake bearskin caps in ceremonial marches and events.
And the Labour Party previously committed to conducting “an immediate review of the possible alternatives to bear fur” when they came into government; and they are in government. So, let’s see this review, please. PETA is now calling upon the party to make good on its promise.
PETA is saying that the government must follow the public’s wishes. It takes one bear to make one hat which is horrendous when you think about it. Last year the MoD bought 24 bearskin caps made from the pelts of black bears killed in Canada. As mentioned, the cost was 31% higher than in 2022. And so, there are economic as well as moral grounds for switching to false fur.
The MoD in their defence say that the pelts come from a regulated market. However, PETA claims hunting enthusiasts are simply buying permits from the Canadian government. And Steven Fry has narrated a video which shows bears being lured with bait and shot with crossbows. Sometimes they are shot several times as you might expect before they die slowly.
Further in their defence, the MoD say that buying fewer real bearskins would not cut the number of bears being hunted. I don’t think that’s a reasonable argument. The news report is that they don’t “think” that it would be less cruel to bears to use faux fur but that implies they don’t know. And in any case, there’s the moral implications of this. You just stop using real fur these days as it is the right thing to do and it would send the right signal to the general public that the MoD are doing the right thing in respect of animal welfare; in respect of avoiding unnecessary animal cruelty. Why can’t the MoD get their minds around that?
Campaigners have renewed calls for a switch to be made and for the King’s Guard to stop wearing these caps.
You do not have to look far see the poor decision-making record of the MoD regarding the purchase and manufacture of armaments. There are many stories of hundreds of millions even billions of pounds being wasted on the commissioning of new machinery which has failed or does not meet specifications. This points to poor decision-making on behalf of the MoD and it supports my view that the MoD are making a very bad decision in failing to seize the opportunity to introduce faux fur bearskin caps for ceremonial duties.
Moving forward, to Monday, September 16 to 1024, a letter to the editor in The Times newspaper presents a good idea. Here it is:
“Sir, May I suggest a way to resolve the bearskin versus faux fur fabric problem? Stop wearing them altogether, they are ludicrous. When I see them, I’m put to mind of giant matchsticks. If the design were proposed today, it would rightly be mocked.
Robert Smith
Merstham, Surrey”
