PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
Bearskin caps and the armed forces (31 January 2022)

That this House expresses its concern that the ceremonial bearskin caps worn by members of the armed forces, most notably at the annual Trooping the Colour parade, involve the unnecessary slaughter of black bears; notes that each bearskin ceremonial cap costs the Ministry of Defence over £1,700 and sees no possible excuse for taxpayers’ money to be spent on ceremonial caps made from the skins of bears gunned down for their fur when the overwhelming majority of the British public is opposed to the use of real fur in clothing; understands that the faux fur developed by animal rights charity PETA with leading faux furrier ECOPEL would enable the Ministry of Defence to replace the real bearskins with faux fur; welcomes the offer by ECOPEL to provide the Ministry of Defence with faux fur at no cost until 2030, saving many bears from slaughter and also saving the tax payer up to a million pounds; and calls on the Ministry of Defence to recognise that its continued use of real fur is not in line with the UK Government’s commitment to have and promote the highest standards of animal welfare and that it is time to switch to faux fur for making these ceremonial caps.

Sponsored by:
Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party)