PETA Global AU 2023 Issue 1

A diverse group of celebrities has joined PETA’s campaign over the years – starring in ads, signing PETA UK’s petitions, and more – including Sir Paul McCartney, Stella McCartney, Pamela Anderson, Ricky Gervais, Joanna Lumley, the late Sir Roger Moore, Morrissey, Simon Pegg, Jerome Flynn, Hayley Mills, Sadie Frost, Twiggy, the late Dame Vera Lynn, and more. The Way Forward Together with the world’s top faux furrier, ECOPEL, PETA UK has created a faux bear fur that has passed all the MoD’s tests and performs as well as, if not better than, real bearskin – without costing any bears their lives. ECOPEL has

Background: © iStock.com/mecaleha

Faye Winter ad: © Photo – Ruth Rose

offered to meet and work with the MoD’s cap-makers and even supply them with free faux fur until 2030. But the MoD keeps making excuses and refusing to use the humane fabric, even though the caps are purely ceremonial and serve no military purpose. PETA UK has

GOD SAVE THE KING, but Will the King Save the Bears?

THE PAST

a dead bear, saying she “was probably a virgin. You’ve got a virgin bear right here. She’s f*cked now. Big time.”

K ing Charles is an environmentalist who has banned foie gras from royal menus and spoken in favor of vegan food. Now, PETA is asking him to help spare bears, as one black bear is killed to make every one of the King’s Guard’s caps. Every year. PETA entities have been pushing the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) to stop supporting the slaughter for years and have engaged celebrities, politicians, the public, and even members of the British Army. Fashion experts and innovators have gotten involved, and PETA UK has worked with faux fur manufacturers to create an exact replica material for the iconic caps – one that stands tall, withstands wind and rain, weighs no more than the original, and looks every bit like bear fur – and they succeeded! But the MoD, now under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, refuses to budge. Our Investigation Shows the Bears Behind the Caps The MoD until recently has claimed that the fur comes from bears killed as part of Canadian government “culls,” but PETA found no evidence that such culls

exist – and now they’ve had to admit they only buy the final products and have no idea how the fur is sourced. In fact, hunters kill bears for “sport,” then sell their fur to auction houses. A PETA investigator traveled undercover in Canada with some of those hunters and exposed a sickening practice called “bait and shoot.” Taking advantage of bears’ keen sense of smell, hunters lure them to piles of food – using doughnuts, pizza, even skinned animals – and then lie in wait. The bears are usually shot multiple times before they die – some manage to escape but die slowly of blood loss or infection later. PETA’s video footage even shows a hunter shooting a mother

THE FUTURE

PETA’s Am bear sador Trails a Prince

Throughout the campaign, PETA supporters have done everything from holding a “die-in” to orchestrating a “21-bum salute” to the MoD in

London to keep the bears’ plight in the public eye. PETA’s “bear” mascot tailed the future king at public engagements in Canada and the US, including New York, where Camilla, then the Duchess of Cornwall, accepted a “Bearskins Are for Bears, Not Guards” leaflet.

filed a lawsuit to compel the MoD to give ECOPEL’s faux bear fur proper consideration..

Take Action Now “Off with their hats!” PETA has asked King Charles to share with the prime minister his

support for a changing of the guard from real bear fur to humane faux fur. Bears need your voice, too: Please visit PETA.org.uk/Bearskins to urge Rishi Sunak to put an end to the excuses and quick-march a faux fur cap into service.

Racism, Sexism, and Speciesism PETA’s investigator also caught hunters making crude racist and sexist jokes, a reminder that all the ugly “-isms” are inextricably linked. One hunter mocked

PETA supporters dressed as guards drenched themselves in “blood” just ahead of a milestone parliamentary bearskins debate, while others demonstrated at the late Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee.

bear with a cub in tow. Such orphaned cubs die, too – of starvation, exposure, or predation – with no mother to guide or protect them.

Global 7

6 FAKE, FOR BEARS’ SAKE