Salon.com > polar bears

Polar bear trade to remain legal

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 19:11:00 +0000

An Obama proposal to ban the trade of polar bear pelts, hides and other body parts was rejected by an international gathering of conservationists after a plea from Canadian Inuits. The ban was intended to help save the wild polar bear population, as global warming threatens to reduce its numbers by as much as two thirds in coming decades. But the Canadians claimed that “selling polar bear hides enables us to support ourselves,” Terry Audla, a spokesman for the Inuits, told the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), according to the Washington Post:

Canada is the only nation with polar bears that allows sports hunting. With two-thirds of the world’s polar bear population, Canada exports several hundred polar bear hides and parts for sale each year.

...Each year, an average of 3,200 items made from polar bears – including skins, claws, and teeth – are reported to be exported or re-exported from countries in which the animals live. Polar bear hides sell for an average of $2,000 to $5,000, while maximum hide prices have topped $12,000.

Polar bears just might outlive us all

Sun, 30 Dec 2012 16:00:00 +0000

On January 24, 2004, in the frigid moonscape of an Arctic winter, wildlife biologist Steven Amstrup rode in a helicopter flying low over the ice. Using an infrared heat detector, he hoped to find polar bears in their dens. When the gun recorded a hit, Amstrup circled around for a closer look. What confronted him was something he had never seen in 34 years of research. The mouth of the den was open, and a smear of bright-red blood stretched away for more than 200 feet. At the end of a long drag trail in the ice lay the still-warm body of a female polar bear. The air temperature was 20 degrees below zero; this bear could not have been dead for more than 12 hours.

Polar bears do not have enemies. A male can weigh 1,500 pounds, with paws a foot wide and savage teeth. They are the unchallenged master predators in the harshest environment on Earth. A full-grown bear slaughtered in her den is far outside the ordinary.

2 seals join polar bears on endangered list

Sat, 22 Dec 2012 01:45:00 +0000

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Two types of ice seals joined polar bears on Friday on the list of species threatened by the loss of sea ice, which scientists say reached record low levels this year due to climate warming.

Ringed seals, the main prey of polar bears, and bearded seals in the Arctic Ocean will be listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced.

A species is threatened if it's likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future throughout a significant portion of its range.

The listing of the seals came after federal scientists did an extensive review of scientific and commercial data. It has no effect on subsistence hunting by Alaska Natives.

"They concluded that a significant decrease in sea ice is probable later this century, and that these changes will likely cause these seal populations to decline," said Jon Kurland, protected resources director for NOAA Fisheries' Alaska region.

Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell late Friday called the science behind the decision speculative and said the state will consider legal action. The state unsuccessfully challenged the polar bear listing.