Update: Conscious of the votes of Americans who want polar bears to survive global warming, the Administration has announced that it will propose an upgrade in international protection for the great white bear. Russia's natural resource ministry said it would support the upgrade at the upcoming CITES conference.
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| cub plays in ANWR, credit: Steve Kazlowski |
{02.10.12}Facing an unprecedented threat to its existence from the melting of sea ice habitat, the great white bear
(Ursus maritimus) is receiving unusual cooperation from Russian and American conservationists.
The Guardian reports Russian ministry of natural resources has sent a letter to the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) assuring support for an initiative that American activists want tabled by the United States in advance of the CITES conference set for early next year. Under the CITES convention trade in skins and trophy hunting remains legal. Hundreds of bears die every year because of this unsustainable human exploitation. Russian support is seen as crucial for the proposal to gain a two-thirds vote among the 176 member nations. As polar bears become more scarce, the price for their hides is going up. In a Moscow shop, a large hide was selling for 1.6m rubles or $51,480. A black market has popped up on-line selling CITES certificates that indicate a legal killing under Canada's hunting quota. Activists say Russian poachers use the illegal certificates to kill an average of 200 bears a year. An estimated 6,000 bears have been killed between 2001 and 2010 according to the IFAW. The US Geological Survey estimates that two-thirds of the estimated 20,000 remaining bears could die as a result of melting Arctic sea ice. Obviously the math is undeniable. If the polar bear is to survive in a warming world, it must have protection from human predation.
