Thank you for contacting me about the Queen's Guards ceremonial caps.
I am aware of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ (PETA) ongoing campaign to replace the real fur used in the bearskin Queen’s Guards ceremonial caps with faux fur and the corresponding debate scheduled for the 11th July.
I am assured that bears are never hunted to order for use by the MOD. Bear pelts that are used for the Queen’s Guards ceremonial caps are the byproducts of a necessary cull, licenced by Canadian authorities as part of a programme to manage the wild bear population, as opposed to fur being harvested from an animal being bred for this sole purpose. Therefore, any reduction in the number of bearskins procured by the MOD would not equate to a reduction in the numbers of bears being culled.