Congress Considers Polar Bear Protection

(c)Don Getty
With thinning ice stressing polar bears, trophy hunting is an extra threat to their survival.

Polar bears are on thin ice.

As climate change heats up the Arctic, these iconic bears are not only scrambling to stay afloat, they're struggling to dodge the bullets of trophy hunters.

Congress has taken notice and recently introduced the Polar Bear Protection Act (S. 1406/H.R. 2327), which would ban  the import of sport-hunted polar bear trophies into the United States.

Polar Bear Survival in Question

A decline in polar bear numbers in recent years has been linked to the retreat of sea ice and its formation later in the year. Ice is also breaking up earlier and this trend is likely to continue. Bears have been forced ashore before they have time to build sufficient fat stores, resulting in thinner, stressed bears, fewer cubs and lower survival rates. Polar bears have even drowned because of melting ice.

Faced with habitat loss and population decline, polar bears are also contending with unscrupulous trophy hunters wishing to lug the pelts of these magnificent animals back to the United States to fill their trophy rooms.

Over-hunting of adult polar bears can cause a catastrophic crash in their population. Well more than half of the polar bear populations in the world are either of unknown, severely reduced, or declining status. The World Conservation Union Red List of Threatened Species cites "a potential risk of over-harvest due to increased quotas, excessive quotas or no quotas in Canada and Greenland and poaching in Russia."

Trophy Hunting Lobby Targets Polar Bears

Historically, American residents have not been allowed to import polar bear trophies under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. In 1994, however, Congress bowed to trophy hunting interests and created a loophole that allows the importation of polar bear trophies from Canada.

Trophy hunting is arguably illegal under the 1973 International Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears (to which all five of the "polar bear nations"—the United States, Canada, Russia, Denmark/Greenland and Norway—belong). Despite this, Canada has allowed a sport hunt for decades. 

The U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act was passed in 1972 to protect all marine mammals. But, trophy hunters such as those at Safari Club International, which rewards those who can kill the most animals, including endangered species, pushed for years for the loophole.

In 1994, they succeeded. Although the MMPA prohibits non-subsistence hunting of polar bears in Alaska, Congress agreed to amend the law to allow the import of trophies from sport-hunted polar bears from populations in Canada approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. After evaluating the status of Canadian populations, the agency approved imports from seven populations in 1997. In 2001, one of those populations was disapproved, after data showed it was declining due to an unsustainable hunt quota. Since 1997, more than 800 polar bear trophies have been exported from Canada into the United States.

Hunters who wish to become decorated members of Safari Club International, and get their names printed in the organization's macabre record book of trophy-hunted animals, kill all the animals they can for a "Grand Slam."

To win the "Bear Slam" the hunter must kill four species of bear, including a polar bear. As trophy hunters appropriate more and more threatened trophy animals, Safari Club International rewards them with more and more awards.

Law Would Close the Loophole

The Polar Bear Protection Act would close the loophole in the Marine Mammal Protection Act and ban the importation of polar bear heads and hides into the United States by American trophy hunters. It was introduced by Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) in the Senate and Representatives Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) and Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.) in the House.

Related Links

Polar Bears

Threats to the Polar Bear's Survival

Hitting Polar Bears When They Are Down

What You Can Do to Protect Polar Bears