I want to petition King Charles III of England to ensure that the wearing of bearskin hats made from real bear pelts is changed to faux fur in the memory of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.

Paddington Bear has become synonymous with Queen Elizabeth II after their tea party for her Jubilee back in June. People have been leaving bears with her memorial flowers and posting photos and drawings on Facebook featuring them both. 

In the 2014  film Paddington Bear, He is seen visiting Buckingham Palace and sharing sandwiches with one of the Queen's guards. That guard kept the sandwiches in his huge black hat.

Did you know that hat is made from the pelt of American Black bears? 

Over 4 billion people tuned in worldwide to watch the Queen's funeral procession. The coffin was accompanied by soldiers wearing those very same Bearskin hats. What message was that sending out to the world? Great Britain is meant to be a nation of animal lovers. People wept at the sight of the Queen's pony Emma and her corgi's paying their last respects. Yet they were subjected to the sight of a long line of dead bears without realising it. 

The Queen herself stopped wearing real fur back in 2019.

A previous petition received 106,352 signatures and resulted in a debate in the House of Commons on 11th July 2022. The result of that debate was that the Ministry of Defence agreed to talk to PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) about the possibility of using a faux fur that they have developed. I have read the transcript from that debate and the MOD is not keen to give up on the use of real bear pelts for making the hats. They state that faux fur isn't good enough and that the bears are killed as part of a culling program in Canada and that their use is ethical.

PETA has been sending the MOD samples of faux fur since 2007 and has had them all rejected. I don't think they are going to be keen on making changes any time soon unless there is extra pressure put on them. 

This is why I want to petition King Charles to make sure that the change from real bear fur to faux happens in his mother's memory.