Luton man leads 'bloody' campaign to stop Queen's Guards using the pelt of brown bears for their famous caps

Jake Clarke was part of a group of PETA supporters wearing little more than bear masks and lying on “blood”-soaked Union Jack flags at Marble Arch to protest the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) support of the slaughter of Canadian black bears, whose fur is used to make the caps worn by the Queen’s Guard.

He sat in the middle of the action holding a sign reading “Stop the Bear Slaughter: MoD, Go Fur-Free!”

The group says it takes the hide of one bear to make a single cap and that the MoD frequently makes the claim that the bearskins are the by-product of a “cull” overseen by Canadian authorities.

PETA claims it has been told by both the federal and provincial Canadian governments, no such “cull” exists. Instead, the Canadian government issues “tags” to hunting enthusiasts, who are then free to bait and kill an allotted number of bears and sell their pelts for profit.

“The Ministry of Defence is using taxpayer funds to pay for caps made from the skin of slaughtered bears,” says PETA Senior Campaigns Manager Kate Werner. “Now that an animal-friendly replacement exists, the MoD must use it.”

Over £1 million of taxpayer money has been spent on 891 bearskin caps over the past seven years, but ECOPEL has offered to provide the MoD with faux bear fur free of charge until 2030.

A government petition on the issue has been launched.