Organisations Ban Together to End Polar Bear Trade
01 September 2009
by Anai Rhoads
AnaiRhoads.org -- Animal welfare groups have teamed up to help put an end the international trade of polar bears. The trade is said to be ongoing, where skin, fur, claws, skulls and even stuffed bears are commercially sold and traded. Other items include hides, trophies, rugs and a variety of other polar bear body parts.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), Humane Society International and Defenders of Wildlife are urging the United States government to help end this practice, by submitting a proposal to stop the trade before next year's meeting of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
The number of polar bears on the planet is rapidly decreasing. It is estimated that there are currently only 20,000 left and each year more than 400 polar bear skins are traded, with most being exported from Canada into Japan.
"Polar bears are facing so many threats right now - from global warming to poaching, trophy hunting and commercial trade - that scientists say they could vanish from the United States by the middle of the century. We can't solve all of these threats right away, but we can eliminate the threat of commercial trade. The U.S. can and should take the lead, by submitting a proposal to CITES to uplist the polar bear," said Defenders of Wildlife President Rodger Schlickeisen.
There are only five known countries where wild polar bears live. These include Canada, Denmark (Greenland), Norway, Russian Federation, and the United States.
Under the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. declared the polar bear as a threatened species in 2008. Adding these animals to this list put a halt to trophy killings brought back into the U.S. killed by American hunters. Unfortunately under CITES, this did not prevent non-American citizens from bringing in trophy polar bear kills.
"We cannot sit on the sidelines and accept the extinction of these iconic and magnificent creatures. The government should be doing everything it can to eliminate all threats to polar bears. By uplisting the species at the next CITES conference, the U.S. could help prevent the deaths of hundreds of polar bears killed needlessly for the commercial market," said Jeff Flocken, D.C. Office Director, International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).
The CITES meeting will take place in Doha, Qatar and is expected to begin on 13 March and will run through the 25th. IFAW and its partner-organisations are asking that the U.S. transfer the polar bears from CITES Appendix II, which permits international commercial trade, to Appendix I, which prohibits it.
The U.S. only has until 14 October to submit the proposal to the CITES Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service are accepting public comments from 11 through September.
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