PETA targets Luke Pollard with billboard over King’s Guard bearskin caps

Animal rights group PETA has stepped up its campaigning for an alternative to the real bearskin hats worn by the King’s Guard with a new billboard adjacent to the office of Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry, Luke Pollard.

The billboard, located at Frankfort Gate in Pollard’s constituency of Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, depicts a King’s Guard hat with a bear head and the slogan “1 bear = 1 cap.”

The caps, used by the military since 1815, cost £2,361 each in 2025, with 96 ordered that year.

“For every bearskin cap, a bear was baited by hunters and violently killed,” says Kate Werner, Senior Campaigns Manager. “Luke Pollard has an opportunity to bring the bearskin caps into the 21st century by replacing them with a humane faux-fur alternative – he must seize it. The public will not accept inaction while bears continue to be gunned down for ornamental headgear.”

Bearskins for the caps come from bears hunted in Canada, including via high-powered crossbow, a form of hunting now banned in the UK.

The billboard is located three doors away from Pollard’s office, and will display for a week.

Alternatives to King’s Guard caps are not yet suitable

In 2021, PETA worked with luxury faux furrier ECOPEL to deliver a faux fur alternative that it claimed was ‘indistinguishable’ from the real bearskin caps. At the time, ECOPEL offered to provide the MoD with faux fur caps free of charge until 2030.

However, the product was not taken up by the MoD. Speaking to the Plymouth Herald this week, Pollard explained that, at present, there is no workable alternative available.

“I want to replace bearskin fur caps with artificial materials because animal welfare is incredibly important to me,” he said. “However, to make this transition, the alternative would need to meet all five criteria used for testing – water penetration, water absorption, drying rate, appearance, and compression.”

“Currently, no alternatives meet these standards, which are essential to ensuring our footguards have suitable, affordable, and sustainable headdress,” he continued. “I want to reassure Peta and those others who are developing these alternatives that I remain fully supportive of future submissions, provided they successfully meet all five of the established testing criteria.”

In response to constituents’ enquiries, several MPs have responded on the issue, including Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, then Conservative MP for The Cotswolds in 2024. In his comments, he said,

“I understand that tests conducted on potential faux fur products have shown that, while water penetration was reduced, it still did not meet the necessary standard, and performed poorly in the remaining basic requirements areas.”

He added that the fabric only met one of the five basic requirements.