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Stephen Fry wants King's Guard to ditch bear fur (www.bbc.co.uk)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] withabeard 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Chances are (and I'm up for being corrected on this). The bears are being culled to maintain population levels.

In all areas of the world, human interaction with nature means we've upset the usual ecosystem balance. We've moved predator/prey ecosystems, we've changed their sizes and we've decided there are big areas we just don't want the predators. Culling/management is necessary to minimise our further impact.

These bears are going to be shot with or without the furs being used. They're not being killed so someone can have the fancy hats.

[–] glimse 13 points 10 months ago

Perhaps not the best source

Freedom of information act requests have revealed that the UK government does not know the details of the supply chain for the fur it buys, as MP John Nicolson pointed out during the debate:

"The evidence is that most bears in Canada are killed by trophy hunters who know there is a market for the skins. Canadian Government culls are infrequent and only authorised to kill the small number of bears straying too close to human habitation. The MoD has no idea about the provenance of the dead bears it buys. The evidence, again, is that they are often nursing mothers. When they are killed to make a hat, their cubs starve to death."

Canadian bear hunt policies are largely economically driven, despite many questioning the financial benefits over ecotourism investments. Black bear hunting trips cost thousands of dollars and, since the Government of Ontario has reintroduced the spring bear hunt, non-resident trophy hunters are paying to bait and kill bears for sport as they emerge from hibernation. Rather than being a by-product of wildlife management, bear pelts from Canada mostly come from recreational hunts.