They say animal rights activists put the species at more risk than hunters who regard it as central to their livelihood
Doomsday predictions of the polar bear’s demise tend to draw an Inuit guffaw here in Nunavut, the remote Arctic territory where polar bears in some places outnumber people.
People will tell you about the polar bear that strode brazenly past the dump a month ago or the bear that attacked a dog team in the town of Arviat in November. Heart-rending pictures of polar bears clinging to tiny islands of ice elicit nothing but derision.
The move to protect polar bears is appreciated for one thing, however, and that’s a hefty hike in the price for a dead one. Across Canada, prices for polar bear pelts have soared over the last few years, with two at a June 20 auction in Ontario fetching a record $16,500 each.
“Four years ago, we were lucky to get a thousand dollars for a 7-foot polar bear. Now, you can sell that 7-foot polar bear for between $3,500 and $4,000,” said Frank Pokiak, chairman of the Inuvialuit Game Council in northwestern Canada.
The only country in the world that allows its polar bears to be shot and sold commercially on the international market, Canada — home to two-thirds of the remaining population — has reaped the benefits of the rest of the globe’s concern for the bear. So have its native people. An estimated 77% of the world trade in polar bear parts in recent years came from about 500 bears a year killed in Canada, 300 of which typically enter the international market, according to a review by the Humane Society of the United States and Canadian officials.
Now U.S. conservation groups are pushing the U.S. to back an agreement that would ban most international trade in polar bear parts, with a move to upgrade the listing for the polar bear under the 175-nation Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species, known as CITES.
As the polar bear isn’t endangered, CITES listing will be corrupt, and endanger CITES itself.
CITES listing will make the polar bear nothing more than a nuisance to the Inuit, and they will kill everyone they see. Polar bear numbers will plummet.
I’m reminded of that old tale.
A farmer is plowing his field, and sees a little bird’s nest. He jumps off his tractor, goes over, and carefully uses his shovel to move the nest a few feet so that the eggs won’t get broken by the plow. After all, the farmer is a good man.
He then gets back on his tractor, and a little while later, he sees another bird’s nest. He goes up to repeat the procedure, but he recognizes that the bird is endangered. If he moved the nest, he would be violating several laws. In fact, if the conservation groups new there was an endangered species on his land, he’d have to leave the entire field fallow, making his farm lose money). After thinking about his family for a moment, he takes his shovel and says “sorry, buddy, but it’s you or me”, and smashes the nest to bits.
Of course, that’s a piece of fiction that you will never hear anyone admit to doing, but the tale started somewhere, no?
I have been told by two different friends who were hunting in Africa that farmers asked them to shoot the cheetahs on their farms. Due to CITES, cheetahs have become worthless, except to Madison Ave, Nat Geo elites.
Managed hunting is the best thing that can happen to wildlife. Polar bears have done quite will with it. Ending it (you can no longer import polar bear trophies to the U.S., but hunting has not been banned) removes much of their value to local people. Polar bears are a common enough species that they will survive.
Cheetahs won’t. Nat Geo knows it. They would rather cheetahs be extinct than be hunted.
Indeed Ben, Down-Under it’s known as the triple-ess rule of conservation – if you are unlucky enough to find “endangered” species on your land then the only practical response is to shoot, shovel and shut-up. It used to be different in that you could claim some tax relief for voluntary conservation efforts – businesses would preserve or even create wetlands and go to great lengths to accomodate endemic wildlife, endangered or not. Since the establishment of draconian “protection” laws, however, no one ever finds critters on land they are trying to develop or use because you lose all rights and end up with expensive requirements for land you can not use.
“Heart-rending pictures of polar bears clinging to tiny islands of ice elicit nothing but derision.”
The derision comes from brain-rending quotes like this.
You’re forgetting all the non profit jobs involved! Banning anything is a big job creator! As well as lip smacking satisfaction making other people follow green rules.