Apparently efforts to protect the polar bear population were thwarted by Canada, Greenland, and Norway. While I get that these countries all have polar bear populations and probably have small numbers of inhabitants that rely on the sale of polar bear pelts and other parts as a way of life, these individuals must represent an extremely small portion of the total population. It makes no sense that such a small group of short sighted individuals would be able to control the policy of an entire country or that politicians in those countries would care about their objections. Can anyone from these countries shed some light on this?

I guess referring to Eskimos as “short sighted individuals” would be viewed as racist and not a good move if planning to get reelected. If you are a politician, the bears are a mere externality. Not getting reelected, OTOH, could cost you your career and marriage.

Add this delimna to the other endangered species on the CITES list and you have a bottleneck resulting in greater demand for a “rare” item to show off to your rich cronies. One possible solution is to manufacture faux furs and other body parts but even that won’t satisfy the purist market.  Countries should also be ready to spend a fortune on guards to patrol the bears and extra police to ferret out the black marketeers. Whaling is another example. It’s still being practiced despite the efforts of anti-whaling organizations. The only success CITES is currently having is the ivory trade in the US. They’re choking it off but some ivory still gets in illegally. plus there is a legal market in Siberian Mammoth ivory on the Internet. It should be illegal and damn the votes, but George is right. The taint of racism stings just as much as calling your rep. an atheist; the kiss of death to any political career, well maybe not in Greenland.

Racism against Polar bears. 

mid atlantic - 10 March 2013 04:30 AM

Racism against Polar bears. 

I hate when people argue that just because youre white you cant be a victim of racism

mid atlantic - 10 March 2013 04:30 AM

Racism against Polar bears. 

My younger son calls it species-ism.

Let them go.  If they aren’t able to adapt to the changing climatic conditions, it’s just natural selection at work.