Posted on 05/16/2012 9:44:59 AM PDT by pabianice
The real cost of a polar bear rug
Every year, hunters kill hundreds of polar bears and then sell their parts legally in the international market. Urge the Obama Administration to pursue a worldwide ban on the commercial trade in polar bear parts.
I find it truly shocking that in this day and age, hunters are still gunning down polar bears to peddle their skins, teeth, claws and skulls on the international market.
If you agree that the world doesnt have polar bears to spare -- certainly not to end up as rugs -- then please help NRDC end this gruesome trade once and for all.
Tell the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to propose a ban on the trafficking of polar bears for profit.
This is a make or break moment. The Obama Administration is deciding whether or not to propose such a ban at the next meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
This is no time for our government to be on the fence about polar bear protection.
Polar bears are already struggling for survival. They are mortally threatened by climate change, toxic pollution and oil development.
Scientists predict that rising temperatures alone will cause two-thirds of the worlds polar bears to go extinct by 2050. We simply cant afford to let commercial hunting and trafficking kill off hundreds of them every year.
In 2010, at the last meeting of CITES, the United States led the way and sponsored a ban -- but that effort fell short of the votes needed. Since then, the polar bears plight has only grown more dire.
Please ask the Obama Administration to lead the way again by proposing a ban, in advance of the next meeting of CITES in March 2013, and to build a winning coalition with like-minded range states, such as Russia, to pass it.
Polar bears need our help more than ever. In the face of the climate change that is ravaging their habitat, we must do everything we can to bolster their populations for the sake of polar bear survival.
I hope youll stand with me and NRDC in defense of polar bears by sending a message to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today. And thank you for responding to their plight.
Sincerely, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., NRDC Senior Attorney
Polar bears are not endangered. In fact,with an estimated population approaching 25,000, there are now more polar bears than at any other time in recorded history (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_bears#cite_note-PBI-26).
The poles are not melting. There is more observed total ice cover now than in the past 50 years (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1242011/DAVID-ROSE-The-mini-ice-age-starts-here.html).
The global temperature is dropping (http://www.dailytech.com/Temperature+Monitors+Report+Widescale+Global+Cooling/article10866.htm).
Polar environments are not being ravaged. They remain unchanged from what was first observed in the 19th century (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_ecology).
I personally do not approve of hunting for other than providing food. But unlike NRDC or a Kennedy, I refuse to force my views upon others. I would suggest that Robert Kennedy instead devote his time to making whole the children and grandchildren of those brutalized by the old gangster and bootlegger himself, Joe Kennedy, Sr.
Polar bears are simply a variety of brown bear. If we ran out of polar bears we could probably breed up another bunch by carefully selecting brown bears.
I don't go to his concerts anymore.
Where can I find a polar bear rug? Not Wal Mart!
Where can I support the hunters?
And how much is a Polar Bear rug? (Probably in the $10Ks, but I’m curious!)
Perhaps Mr. Kennedy is worried about a die-off but instead uses “extinct” improperly?
Or is he being deliberately inflammatory using code words to incite a riot among followers? Why that couldn't be!
Besides, American and Canadian Indians are not subject to laws like this. And I'll bet that citizens of Mother Russia are among the worst offenders that offend a Kennedy.
I'm guessing the writer is not warming up to Sarah, despite her nice, toasty polar bear rug that would look great in the Oval Office.
blah blah blah....enviro crap polluting the atmosphere yet again
save a forest plant a Sierra Club Member
that ain’t a polar bear that be a kodiak
I say leave the polar bear alone. The parts are probably being sold to some Asian so he can have a hard you know what.
Thanks for the correction. I wondered if it was Kodiak, but Google said polar so I attributed the darkness to lighting.
What’s the big deal? We just fish them out of the ocean where they drowned where the North Pole used to be. /sarc
Love that picture. Shows a confident, dedicated, successful, Mom, and business person with courage. The picture probably makes a lot of lefties want to squirm...
I favor opening a season on polar bears and hunting them from helicopters. To be followed by seal-clubbing season (no bag limit) and Whale-fest (harpoon and release).
To hell with these self-appointed “guardians”. It’s my planet too.
And go after the penguins....I always found it ironic that in the movie “Happy Feet” that the penguins were complaining that there wasn’t enough fish for them to eat...well how do you think those poor fish felt about it? Whoopee now we just get to be eaten by penguins.
Are Polar Bear rugs for sale anywhere on the net? Any idea of the approximate price?
If you want an animal to go extinct, just eliminate its only economic reason for existence. In other words, like Kenya outlawing hunting, the elephants, etc have been decimated by poachers, while Zimbabwe, Tanzania, etc are from borderline to definitely overpopulated with them. The folks who make $$$ from hunting will police their hunting areas, if they can’t hunt, the only result is massive illegal poaching. Getting a lib to understand this is damn near impossible however. Most game animals are saved by hunters, not preservationists.
I just saw the name .......Kennedy. I’ll bet he’s spent a lot of time in the wilderness areas of the world. Another expert who has never walked off concrete.
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