Wildalaska
member
No no not ours...we are all synthetic..but you know those really cool British ones...read on...
Queen's Guards reconsider use of bearskin helmets
Anti-fur lobby pressure
Joseph Brean
National Post
Wednesday, March 12, 2003
The Buckingham Palace Foot Guards plan to replace their traditional bearskin helmets with a synthetic alternative, largely in response to complaints from animal rights activists, including Yana Booth, Miss Great Britain.
Introduced in 1815 as a symbol of victory over Napoleon's fur-clad soldiers, the foot-high "busbies" are made by stretching Canadian black bear fur over a bamboo frame.
One busby requires the fur of one bear, and each year the Foot Guards buy the pelts of roughly 100 bears culled by Canadian wildlife officials.
Ms. Booth petitioned the Queen and posed nude with a teddy bear to protest the hats, calling them "the world's cruellest crowns."
Her complaints, promoted by People for the Ethical Treatment of animals, led the British military to declare yesterday that the use of fur is "socially unacceptable."
"Socially, it's become unacceptable to use fur for dressing human beings, and we've reflected that in our quest for alternatives [to busbies], but frankly we haven't come up with a suitable variant yet," said Simon Saunders, spokesman for the British Army Headquarters, London District.
The military has tried for years to develop a new busby, he said, but every version made with nylon or dyed sheep wool either lost its shape, retained water, became spiky when wet or developed a reddish sheen in the sunlight. In certain weather conditions, static electricity would cause the fur to stand "awkwardly" on end, Mr. Saunders said. "They don't do the job as well as real fur."
For the guards, who are regularly inspected by the Queen and perform the famous changing of the guards ceremony before millions of tourists each year, these defects were unacceptable.
Dawn Carr, the European director of PETA, called complaints about such difficulties "quite silly," and said they make light of the bears' deaths.
Now, a northern England company has developed a busby made with hair shorn from cows, and is to deliver the first set for official inspection within four weeks. Mr. Saunders said the natural fibres help to repel water and reduce static, and the version is the best of any tried so far.
He would not reveal the company's name for fear it would be targeted by animal rights activists, specifically PETA.
A wildlife expert said the effort to use synthetic fur is laudable, but will have no effect on black bears in the wild. Also, culls of black bears by wildlife management officials will go on regardless of whether there is a market for the pelts.
"Overall, it's going to have nothing more than a symbolic impact on any black bear population anywhere ... The biggest threat to black bears, or bears in general around the world, doesn't have much to do with their fur. It has to do with illegal poaching and illegal trade in wildlife parts like gall bladders, mainly in Asiatic markets for medicinal purposes," said Mark Hebblewhite, a University of Alberta wildlife ecologist. "It would be nice to see efforts like this coupled with increased efforts to reduce illegal trade in wildlife."
The 2,000 busbies in current rotation for the Buckingham Palace Foot Guards last about 20 years, and the bamboo frames usually wear out before the fur, Mr. Saunders said.
According to the database of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, the black bear is present in every Canadian province and territory except Prince Edward Island, where it has been extirpated by humans. "The habitat is generally secure and there is no clear indication of overall population decline," the entry reads.
[email protected]
© Copyright 2003 National Post
Queen's Guards reconsider use of bearskin helmets
Anti-fur lobby pressure
Joseph Brean
National Post
Wednesday, March 12, 2003
The Buckingham Palace Foot Guards plan to replace their traditional bearskin helmets with a synthetic alternative, largely in response to complaints from animal rights activists, including Yana Booth, Miss Great Britain.
Introduced in 1815 as a symbol of victory over Napoleon's fur-clad soldiers, the foot-high "busbies" are made by stretching Canadian black bear fur over a bamboo frame.
One busby requires the fur of one bear, and each year the Foot Guards buy the pelts of roughly 100 bears culled by Canadian wildlife officials.
Ms. Booth petitioned the Queen and posed nude with a teddy bear to protest the hats, calling them "the world's cruellest crowns."
Her complaints, promoted by People for the Ethical Treatment of animals, led the British military to declare yesterday that the use of fur is "socially unacceptable."
"Socially, it's become unacceptable to use fur for dressing human beings, and we've reflected that in our quest for alternatives [to busbies], but frankly we haven't come up with a suitable variant yet," said Simon Saunders, spokesman for the British Army Headquarters, London District.
The military has tried for years to develop a new busby, he said, but every version made with nylon or dyed sheep wool either lost its shape, retained water, became spiky when wet or developed a reddish sheen in the sunlight. In certain weather conditions, static electricity would cause the fur to stand "awkwardly" on end, Mr. Saunders said. "They don't do the job as well as real fur."
For the guards, who are regularly inspected by the Queen and perform the famous changing of the guards ceremony before millions of tourists each year, these defects were unacceptable.
Dawn Carr, the European director of PETA, called complaints about such difficulties "quite silly," and said they make light of the bears' deaths.
Now, a northern England company has developed a busby made with hair shorn from cows, and is to deliver the first set for official inspection within four weeks. Mr. Saunders said the natural fibres help to repel water and reduce static, and the version is the best of any tried so far.
He would not reveal the company's name for fear it would be targeted by animal rights activists, specifically PETA.
A wildlife expert said the effort to use synthetic fur is laudable, but will have no effect on black bears in the wild. Also, culls of black bears by wildlife management officials will go on regardless of whether there is a market for the pelts.
"Overall, it's going to have nothing more than a symbolic impact on any black bear population anywhere ... The biggest threat to black bears, or bears in general around the world, doesn't have much to do with their fur. It has to do with illegal poaching and illegal trade in wildlife parts like gall bladders, mainly in Asiatic markets for medicinal purposes," said Mark Hebblewhite, a University of Alberta wildlife ecologist. "It would be nice to see efforts like this coupled with increased efforts to reduce illegal trade in wildlife."
The 2,000 busbies in current rotation for the Buckingham Palace Foot Guards last about 20 years, and the bamboo frames usually wear out before the fur, Mr. Saunders said.
According to the database of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, the black bear is present in every Canadian province and territory except Prince Edward Island, where it has been extirpated by humans. "The habitat is generally secure and there is no clear indication of overall population decline," the entry reads.
[email protected]
© Copyright 2003 National Post
