Proposal to protect polar bears rejected

BANGKOK, Thailand—Animal welfare groups from Canada and around the world say they’re extremely disappointed at a key group’s rejection of a proposal to grant more protections to the polar bear.
The proposal was voted down yesterday by delegates to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species being held in Bangkok.

Representatives of the United States and Russia supported placing polar bear hides, heads, or other parts in the same category as elephant ivory—forbidding their cross-border sale.
However, Canada, the European Union, and Norway opposed the move.
Sheryl Fink of the Canadian arm of the International Fund for Animal Welfare said an opportunity to protect Canada’s polar bears “has been squandered.”
She said the decision should not be seen as an implication that polar bears are out of danger, adding her group is calling on the Canadian government to take “every possible measure available to protect this iconic species.”
Canada has long maintained that bear populations are healthy and remain at between 20,000 and 25,000, and that the real threat to the bears is climate change, not international trade.
They say restricting commerce wouldn’t reduce the number of bears killed because a ban wouldn’t affect traditional or sport hunts.
Environment Canada officials have said Inuit hunters have developed a growing and lucrative business in selling polar bear skins as a byproduct of their traditional hunt.
But animal welfare groups and supporters of the proposal said the polar bear numbers are not as healthy as Canadian officials suggest.
“The world once again had a chance to take action to safeguard polar bear populations and failed,” said Jeff Flocken, North American regional director of IFAW.
“Polar bears were handed the same appalling fate at the last CITES meeting and the decision is even more disheartening this time around,” he noted.
“Each passing year that this iconic species is not protected to the fullest is another year closer to losing the polar bear forever,” Flocken warned.
Russian scientist Nikita Ovsyanikov said polar bear populations are decreasing and the species is threatened when the bears are hunted and killed for their fur and parts.
“The polar bear is facing a grim future, and today brought more bad news,” echoed Dan Ashe, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
“Members of CITES have an obligation to protect species from this threat,” he added.
“Today, we failed to do that for the polar bear.”