Sadly it’s that time of year again when grizzly bear hunting in British Columbia, Canada, rears its ugly head, leading to the slaughter of hundreds of bears for this blood-sport. The hunt starts on a limited basis on Friday, then kicks off fully in September. So it’s time to spare a thought and get active for our Unbearable Cruelty campaign (if you weren’t already, of course).

So what do sickening pictures like the one above have to do with the Royal Family? The great big fluffy hats you see adorning the heads of our Royal Guards are actually made from bearskins, from bears that have families, feel pain and breathe, just like you and I do. But none of that matters to the hunters, who kill to earn a quick buck, or to brandish the dead corpses as trophies.

Alexia’s back from holiday, refreshed and raring to go. I had lots of fun relaxing in the Devonshire countryside, ahhh … Kudos to Goldsmith for looking after the blog last week, but it’s now safely back in my hands, muahahaha.

And what great news to return to. Following an International Whaling Commission meeting last week, Greenland has been denied approval to expand its whale slaughter. Excuse me for a moment while I stifle a triumphant yelp (*$@&woo!). Whales die a horrible, long and painful death during harpooning, and some take hundreds of bullets to eventually lose the battle and breathe their last breath.

There’s a whole lot of detail to go with this story at the BBC, and a cute ‘design your own whale’ widget you can check out here.

It was a day for the Royals to be truly proud of. On Saturday, Britain celebrated the Queen’s birthday with the Trooping the Colours – a colourful and noisy parade through London. But the highlight of the day – especially for party boys Princes William and Harry, I’m sure – was catching a sight of three Union Jack bikini-clad women holding ‘God Save the Bears’ signs high above the crowd.

Getting into the party spirit, the near-naked PETA ladies hollered “God Save the Bears - Stop Killing Bears” over and over again ‘til they got, erm, detained by the police. Harry was even spotted explaining to William what was being shouted and why (that their nan won’t budge to help bears), and both seemed to take the protest in stride.

Thanks to the girls who bared all for the bears, and the guys who dutifully held them on their shoulders, l-r Sara Perrson & Christopher Virta, Marie Perrson & Bruce Friedrich, Fleur Disney & Sten Vermeiren.

The Queen was given a royal welcome yesterday when she attended the VIP day at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Our PETA bear tells us that he’s sure the Queen and other members of the Royal Family saw him – well, who could miss a big, fluffy bear holding a ‘God Save The Bears’ sign at the entrance to this world-famous horticultural event. Such a beautiful and peaceful occasion; perfect for reminding the Queen and her devotees of the horrific plight of black bears that are killed for the Guards’ ceremonial caps.

Gordon Ramsay has admitted that his eight-year-old son pulled off the head of a rabbit, while out ‘ferreting’ (bloodsport; hunting for rabbits with ferrets). He says he sent his son, Jack, down a hole to retrieve the ferret and, “… got his hand on the rabbit, and you know you have to pull it to break the neck? He pulled it and pulled the f***ing head off.”

How absolutely delightful. Honestly, this man is just a walking atrocity. So while most eight-year-old children enjoy looking after rabbits as companion animals, this poor kid is being taught how to break rabbits’ necks. And now he has to live with the experience of actually pulling off a rabbit’s head. Get a grip Ramsay, and bring up your children to have a shred of compassion. After all, you surely don’t want them to have a manure dump on their hands when they grow up, like you did. Huh?

Image: MenuPages / CC

The son of Roxy Music’s Bryan Ferry, and notorious pro-hunting stalwart Otis Ferry, has been charged with attacking and robbing two female anti-hunt activists. The hunt saboteurs were filming the fox hunt in Gloucestershire to ensure the hunters weren’t breaking any laws (which prohibit hunting with dogs), when Otis allegedly tried to wrestle the cameras from their hands. The girls were treated for bruises and shock, and another man is reported to have broken a car window and hit one of the activists with a radio antenna he had snapped off the car roof.

Dear oh dear, Otis. Not doing your cause much good, are you? Let the courts decide what to do with him on May 7th when he’ll appear before Cheltenham magistrates. We at PETA believe fox hunting is a vile sport, with dogs or without – see one of our amazing activists below in a previous run-in with Otis on a Burberry catwalk over his choice of associations.

Image: Sydney Morning Herald / Creative Commons

In a multi-party effort, MPs from all three major political parties have sent shocking footage of bear hunting to all of their colleagues. Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe, Labour MP Chris Mullin and Liberal Democrat MP Mike Hancock are calling on their parties to help end the slaughter of Canadian black bears and the squandering of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) budget on caps made from black-bear fur.

“Polls show that 80 per cent of Britons oppose the waste of taxpayer funds on the cruel and barbaric bear killings for the guards’ caps”, explain the MPs in the letter that accompanies the video. “Please join me in calling on the Ministry of Defence to end this cruelty – you will clearly be carrying out the wishes of the vast majority of your constituents.”

Wow, lots of politicians will have read that letter and I certainly hope many watched the video. Now we have to wait and see if they do something about it…

The bear’s travels around the Caribbean are now sadly over, but not without going out in style!

“Today we drove 4 hours to Montego Bay where we’d arranged for a boat to take us as close as possible to The Prince’s yacht, The Leander. When we arrived security was familiarly tight so, we asked around and discovered Charles and Camilla were having a party at the same resort, right near the beach where we’d board.

Here’s a photo near The Leander.

Then we headed back to the resort JUST in time for the party but we had to be subtle so, the bear laid down in the boat as we approached:

And were greeted by some of the children there to perform and greet the royals:

And then we just walked in…

We mingled with a few guests.

Then we were spotted by one of Charles’s chief security officers. We know him. He knows us.

We were escorted off premises and interrogated for a long while. But a great day had by all.”

So according to the terrific media coverage on the Ann Widdecombe appeal against Guards’ bearskin hats yesterday, the MoD PR machine sent out a totally misleading statement about being “in discussions with PETA.” What a load of nonsense! We talk and they don’t listen and that’s been the story for years… We’ve given them designers, designs and synthetics but they won’t budge. Sure, they are working on public relations but not on stopping bear slaughter for hats. The MOD have the resources to do what 80 percent of the British public want, so you know, get on with it!

Watch the video and see for yourself, then show it to everyone who can hold a pen or click a mouse. Check out the letter we sent to the MoD today.

Click here to see it in full

Today in the House of Commons, MP superstar Ann Widdecombe unveiled footage of black bear hunting in Canada - something the Ministry of Defence currently funds with the Queen’s Guards’ Caps. The MoD has spent over £320,000 on bearskin caps in the past five years alone. But Ann isn’t alone in the quest for kindness, as recently over 200 MPs signed an Early Day Motion calling on the government to switch to a modern and humane synthetic fabric. At the press conference, Ann was wonderful - giving a positive and emotional speech to masses of media about PETA’s highly important bearskin campaign.

Check her out in an interview with Friction TV below.