Stephen Fry wants King's Guard to ditch bear fur
Stephen Fry wants King's Guard to ditch bear fur
The actor says it is unnecessarily cruel to use real bear fur in soldiers' bearskin caps.
Reasonable take. Seems better to switch now than continuing the centuries long tradition of exploiting Canada's wildlife for their furs.
32They still need to cull the bears though. Is it not better to use the fur for something?
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Is there any reason why it can't just be faux fur?
22Not that I'm a massive fan of killing bears or anything, nor am i a massive fan of the royals, or war — so I'm only saying this in the interests of discussion: but would making tiny black plastic fur even be better for the environment in the long term?
13I am on the fence about this subject. On one hand I would like to see a world someday where we don't need to kill animals for food or fur. On the other hand, we haven't yet found environmentally friendly material replacements for some of these applications. I hear on the news about things like pineapple leather and mango fur, but I have yet to see them used in something practical that would help reduce the use of animal products. Like sure, I can buy a purse, but when will there be an alternative for car seats or shoes that isn't made of plastic. I really hope someone out there is working on a solution, but until then I'm really not sure which is worse. Fake fur hats will just add to the piles of plastic like everything else :/
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"Tradition is never an excuse for cruelty," says Mr Fry, who is narrating a video which shows undercover film of how black bears are killed.
A supporter of the animal welfare group made an undercover video which claims to show hunters putting down buckets of strongly-scented food as bait, and then shooting black bears with crossbow bolts when they approach.
This doesn’t exactly seem like a revelation to me, and I don’t know why you’d need undercover footage… how do you think they hunted bears?
Living their life in nature before being killed is about as good as it gets for animals. I thought they were gonna say they’re caged from birth or something.
Besides a POV of “killing any animal is wrong”, I don’t really see an issue. It appears to be regulated and as long as they’re maintaining the bear population appropriately why is it any different than hunting deer or killing a cow for leather?
I think it would be a good thing if they moved away from real bear fur for an alternative, but don’t see it as a real issue either way tbh.
14The problem is that wild animals are being killed so an unelected king in a democratic country can have his guards wear fancy hats
30I’d like the monarchy abolished as well tbh, but their hats are towards the bottom of the list of reasons why.
That’s also not gonna be Stephen Fry’s point, as good as he can be about some issues he’s also a known monarchist.
15Chances are (and I'm up for being corrected on this). The bears are being culled to maintain population levels.
In all areas of the world, human interaction with nature means we've upset the usual ecosystem balance. We've moved predator/prey ecosystems, we've changed their sizes and we've decided there are big areas we just don't want the predators. Culling/management is necessary to minimise our further impact.
These bears are going to be shot with or without the furs being used. They're not being killed so someone can have the fancy hats.
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This doesn’t exactly seem like a revelation to me, and I don’t know why you’d need undercover footage… how do you think they hunted bears?
Because most people don't think about it. Video is a good way to get them started.
5Besides a POV of “killing any animal is wrong”, I don’t really see an issue. It appears to be regulated and as long as they’re maintaining the bear population appropriately why is it any different than hunting deer or killing a cow for leather?
It may be because deer and cows are used for meat as well as their hide.
I'm not sure what happens to the rest of the bear.
1Not sure what happens to these bears but I know many Canadian hunters eat bear.
4People do eat bear meat. I'm sure some just skin it and leave it but it is plenty edible.
1True, if it’s wasteful then move away from it, but then again maybe there does need to be intervention to maintain bear population anyway.
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Come on King Charles, get with it. Bear fur is passé. It took me like 5 seconds of searching the web to find a perfectly suitable replacement: https://www.etsy.com/listing/914324031/mallard-duck-hat
9This is the best summary I could come up with:
"Tradition is never an excuse for cruelty," says Mr Fry, who is narrating a video which shows undercover film of how black bears are killed.
Tall black bearskin hats are a familiar sight at ceremonial military events, such as the Changing of the Guard outside Buckingham Palace.
A supporter of the animal welfare group made an undercover video which claims to show hunters putting down buckets of strongly-scented food as bait, and then shooting black bears with crossbow bolts when they approach.
"By continuing to purchase caps made of black bear fur, the UK government drives demand for pelts and effectively incentivises hunters," says Mr Fry.
PETA says it will share the video footage with King Charles, as it asks him to support a switch from real to artificial fur.
But a Ministry of Defence spokeswoman says that its bear pelts are sourced from authorised hunts and a regulated Canadian fur market: "To date and to the department's knowledge, an alternative has yet to meet the standards required to provide an effective replacement for the bearskin ceremonial caps."
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