Actor and model Rafferty Law is the face of a new PETA campaign urging the Ministry of Defence to replace the real bearskin used to create caps worn by the Queen’s Guard with faux fur.
The famous headgear - called caps by the Army - are made from the skins of culled wild Canadian bears.
The 25-year-old son of actor Jude Law and Sadie Frost says that it takes the skin of at least one bear to create a single cap, which serves “absolutely no military purpose”.
“Unbelievably, black bears are still being gunned down to make the caps for the Queen’s Guard, even though PETA has created this alternative,” says Law, referring to the world’s first faux bear fur – created by PETA and luxury faux furrier ECOPEL.
He added: “And I hope you’re as angry about it as I am.”
Law explains that these bears are often nursing mothers, whose cubs are left to starve.
“One cap can actually represent the painful deaths of an entire family.
And for what?” he says. “It’s sickening and quite frankly devastating.”
It comes on the heels of a government petition launched by Britain’s Got Talent star Alesha Dixon, which seeks 100,000 signatures in order to trigger a Parliamentary debate about the MoD’s continued use of bearskin.
Faux fur maker Ecopel submitted a synthetic fur cap and an independent laboratory put it through its paces. chief executive Christopher Sarfati said: "The watershed from the faux fur in much the same way it does from real bear fur.'
The Army uses 100 skins, thought to be a fraction of the thousands of bears that are killed to keep numbers under control."
PETA’s Director Elisa Allen: “Every day that bears are blasted with bullets or arrows to be skinned for our soldiers brings dishonour to our country.
"For this reason, the animal-loving British public is demanding a changing of the guard’s caps – because some traditions aren’t worth continuing."
