Polar Bear Hunters Promise Restraint

[Lite Beer]

Polar bear hunters promise restraint
Pongphon Sarnsamak
The Nation on Sunday

Terry Audla, president of Canada

BANGKOK: -- Inuit hunters are celebrating their victory after the proposal by the US to ban cross-border trade in polar bears and their parts was defeated last week at an international wildlife and plant meeting but the hunters have promised to save the polar bear population.

"We respect the polar bear. We don't want to see it disappear. So we manage it very well," Terry Audla, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), said at the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP 16) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

ITK is the national Inuit organisation in Canada's Nunavut territory representing four Inuit regions - Nunatsiavut (Labrador), Nunavik (northern Quebec), Nunavut, and the Inuvialuit Settlement Region in the Northwest Territories.

About 55,000 Inuit people live in the Canadian Arctic region, which has about two-thirds of the world's polar bear population - about 16,000 to 18,000 polar bears. There are approximately 20,000-25,000 polar bears worldwide in Canada, Greenland [Denmark], Norway, Russia, and the US.

According to the report by the wildlife trade-monitoring network Traffic, polar bears historically were hunted using traditional methods at sustainable levels. However, there were concerns about the large numbers of polar bears sport-hunted and harvested commercially from the 1700s to the mid-1900s.

As a result of the signing of the 1973 Agreement on the Conservation of Polar bears and subsequent conservation efforts and actions taken by the range states including Canada, Greenland [Denmark], Norway, Russia, and the US, polar bears have not been commercially harvested since 1973. Only Canada permits the hunting of polar bears as a sport. Russia and Norway have not hunted polar bear since 1956 and 1957 respectively. Meanwhile, Canada, the US and Greenland are the only range states that currently allow hunting of polar bears for subsistence purposes.

"Inuit people rely on polar bear for food and money," Audla said. "We do eat polar bear meat. It is like pork and lamb." Inuit people do not hunt polar bear for commercial trade but they do benefit from it. For them, hunting is not a hobby or a luxury but it is a source of sustenance for the millennia.

To date, polar bears are listed and protected by the CITES's Appendix II, which allowed legal hunting and international trade but with certain limitations.

Moreover, the polar bear population is managed by the Nunavut's wildlife management system.

Under this system, there is a polar bear population quota, or total allowable harvest that limits the number of bears that can be harvested each year. The total number of bears hunted in populations managed by Nunavut was approximately 460 from July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012. In Canada, the average annual harvest is about 500.

In 2011-2012, 41 bears were killed for hunting sport and about 419 were killed for subsistence hunting and self defence. "We have a quota to hunt about 700 polar bears a year but actually we annually hunt about 600 and 50 per cent of them go to trade," a 42-year-old hunter said.

They also export polar bear parts like fur to China, Germany, France and Russia. Previously, they exported to the US as well but have now stopped.

To hunt polar bears, Inuit people will make a decision together about the number of polar bears that they would be able to hunt per year to ensure that they do not hunt too many.

"We are going to make sure that we don't hunt too much so that the future of the polar bear population is healthy," Audla said.

For Inuit people, however, hunting polar bears is not just about subsistence but also a local tradition. It shows that a 12 year-old Inuit boy has grown man enough to show responsibility to take care of a family and the community.

The US failed to get support from the majority at the world wildlife and plant summit in Bangkok for its proposal to move the polar bear from Appendix II to Appendix I. That would have meant a total ban on hunting and international commercial trade. The US revealed to the summit that the polar bear habitat will decline by 66 per cent in 2050, pointing to climate change and not trade as the main threat to the species.

Appendix I listing "is not the solution, but is part of the solution" for the protection of the species, the US representatives told the meeting.

-- The Nation 2013-03-10

[chainarong]

Yeah right , that's nice , One question, what are you going to kill after all the bears are gone or will you look for government hand outs.

[OzMick]

Terry Audla, president of Canada

How to lose credibility incredibly fast.

[Payboy]

Terry Audla, president of Canada

How to lose credibility incredibly fast.

In the parallel universe of the Nation, perhaps.

[rkidlad]

Terry Audla, president of Canada

How to lose credibility incredibly fast.

He looks like the lead singer of the 'Fun Loving Criminals' '

[geriatrickid]

Terry Audla, president of Canada

How to lose credibility incredibly fast.

In the parallel universe of the Nation, perhaps.

Does the Nation's academically challenged staff even know where Canada is situated or understand that the Inuit people have a legal right to control the natural resources on their land?

As much as I disapprove of the killing of polar bears, the Inu's legal rights to engage in the activity is untouchable within Canada. It's protected under treaties signed between the Inu and the Crown that date back centuries. The Canadian government couldn't stop the hunt even if it wanted.

Edited March 10, 2013 by geriatrickid

[robblok]

Terry Audla, president of Canada

How to lose credibility incredibly fast.

In the parallel universe of the Nation, perhaps.

Does the Nation's academically challenged staff even know where Canada is situated or understand that the Inuit people have a legal right to control the natural resources on their land?

As much as I disapprove of the killing of polar bears, the Inuit's legal rights to engage in the activity is untouchable within Canada. It's protected under treaties signed between the Inu and the Crown that date back centuries. The Canadian government couldn't stop the hunt even if it wanted.

To be honest if they kill 700 a year would that be too muchf for the population to replenish ? In general id say that people like that are more in touch with nature then us.. Its not like they do it only for the money.

[MEL1]

is that an animal fur waistcoat he's wearing?

And since when has Greenland been Denmark?

-mel.

[Ace of Pop]

Not before time , they have killed every single wild one in Thailand.

[Payboy]

They have Build-a-Bear at every Central though.

[lemonjelly]

Terry Audla, president of Canada

How to lose credibility incredibly fast.

In the parallel universe of the Nation, perhaps.

Does the Nation's academically challenged staff even know where Canada is situated or understand that the Inuit people have a legal right to control the natural resources on their land?

As much as I disapprove of the killing of polar bears, the Inu's legal rights to engage in the activity is untouchable within Canada. It's protected under treaties signed between the Inu and the Crown that date back centuries. The Canadian government couldn't stop the hunt even if it wanted.

The proposal was to implement a ban on cross border trade of polar bear pelts etc, rather than a challenge to the Inuits' legal right to hunt the bears on Inuit lands.

[amykat]

is that an animal fur waistcoat he's wearing?

And since when has Greenland been Denmark?

-mel.

From Wikipedia:

Having been ruled by Denmark-Norway for centuries, Greenland (Danish: Grønland) became a Danish colony in 1814, and a part of the Danish Realm in 1953 under the Constitution of Denmark. In 1979, Denmark granted home rule to Greenland, and in 2008, Greenlanders voted to transfer more power from the Danish royal government to the local Greenlandic government. Under the new structure, in effect since June 21, 2009,^[3] the Danish government retains control of foreign affairs, national defence, the police force, and the justice system. It also retains control of monetary policy, providing an initial annual subsidy of DKK 3.4 billion, slated to diminish gradually over time as Greenland's economy is strengthened by increased income from the extraction of natural resources.

[mok199]

as a canadian...i can tell you first hand how the ''first nations''think....they have been busted with eagle parts,grizzly parts,and on and on....this is very upsetting and i pay my 25% tax,and they enjoy no tax ,free houses,cigaretts etc....we have paid land claims,and legal bills,and then they set up blockades...we build them houses they cut them up and use the wood in the fire,we give them hunting rights and they kill animals and sell them.they fish when the limits have been streched to the amx ,then they bring in trollers to tiny streams and lakes..and sell the salmon..they say the love canada,they say the respect nature....lol..this caranage has to stop...and they will hold us ransom yet again.always the victims..the white man stole our land..ok give them a bow and arrow.give them a pole and a string....have at it......polar bears and indians...wild wild west......

[Sing_Sling]

Yeah right , that's nice , One question, what are you going to kill after all the bears are gone or will you look for government hand outs.

You didn't read the article, did you . . .

is that an animal fur waistcoat he's wearing?

And since when has Greenland been Denmark?

-mel.

Since when? Only a few hundred years

[jamhar]

is that an animal fur waistcoat he's wearing?

And since when has Greenland been Denmark?

-mel.

LOL i think you're right about the sealskin vest he's got on!

hunter to polar bear

"i'm practicing self-restraint. I promise this wont hurt much"

[MEL1]

Yeah right , that's nice , One question, what are you going to kill after all the bears are gone or will you look for government hand outs.

You didn't read the article, did you . . .

>is that an animal fur waistcoat he's wearing?

And since when has Greenland been Denmark?

-mel.

Since when? Only a few hundred years

I was throwing regard to colonial institutions that have no presence...... my bad I didn't explain my intent.

Did you meet a Dane last time you visited Greenland?

Or then, did you meet an Argentinian last time you visited the Falklands?

No need for the news highlight about colonial ownership, in this article, as most Thais don't even know what a polar bear is!! All Thais are experts in Som Tam, Sticky Rice, and Corruptive Methods of Attempting to get Money... as for Polar Bears..... hum.... ??

-mel.

[JetsetBkk]

Terry Audla, president of Canada

How to lose credibility incredibly fast.

He looks like the lead singer of the 'Fun Loving Criminals' '

I thought it was John Virgo.

[Sing_Sling]

Yeah right , that's nice , One question, what are you going to kill after all the bears are gone or will you look for government hand outs.

You didn't read the article, did you . . .

>is that an animal fur waistcoat he's wearing?

And since when has Greenland been Denmark?

>-mel.

Since when? Only a few hundred years

I was throwing regard to colonial institutions that have no presence...... my bad I didn't explain my intent.

Did you meet a Dane last time you visited Greenland?

Or then, did you meet an Argentinian last time you visited the Falklands?

No need for the news highlight about colonial ownership, in this article, as most Thais don't even know what a polar bear is!! All Thais are experts in Som Tam, Sticky Rice, and Corruptive Methods of Attempting to get Money... as for Polar Bears..... hum.... ??

-mel.

I've never been to the Falklands - few people have, so the question is quite irrelevant . . . but they, the Falkland Islanders, declare themselves British subjects - which is exactly the point.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/falklanders-vote-to-remain-british-20130310-2ftqs.html

Greenlanders have voted for more autonomy recently, but not for full independence . . . that should tell you something

[Sing_Sling]

as a canadian...i can tell you first hand how the ''first nations''think....they have been busted with eagle parts,grizzly parts,and on and on....this is very upsetting and i pay my 25% tax,and they enjoy no tax ,free houses,cigaretts etc....we have paid land claims,and legal bills,and then they set up blockades...we build them houses they cut them up and use the wood in the fire,we give them hunting rights and they kill animals and sell them.they fish when the limits have been streched to the amx ,then they bring in trollers to tiny streams and lakes..and sell the salmon..they say the love canada,they say the respect nature....lol..this caranage has to stop...and they will hold us ransom yet again.always the victims..the white man stole our land..ok give them a bow and arrow.give them a pole and a string....have at it......polar bears and indians...wild wild west......

Isn't it nice to know that Canada has yobs like we do

[Locationthailand]

Killing any animal for sport puts those that do in the sick society category. Killing an animal as magnificent as these polar bears for subsistence is only 'just' acceptable. Personally if the Chins and others could ever be persuaded pelts and body parts actually held no magic, that would remove demand and thus allow the bears a decent chance in the food chain.

[perconrad]

There are about 10.000 danes living in Greenland, for many years I was one of them.

By the way all greenlanders are danish citicens.

Not many Thai's now what Greenland is or where it is situated, but most know about polar bears, they have seen them on television.

[Yahooka]

Killing any animal for sport puts those that do in the sick society category. Killing an animal as magnificent as these polar bears for subsistence is only 'just' acceptable. Personally if the Chins and others could ever be persuaded pelts and body parts actually held no magic, that would remove demand and thus allow the bears a decent chance in the food chain.

Why is it wrong to kill an animal just because it`s "magnificent " ? And at the moment the polar bear is at it`s highest numbers in more than 40 years,so it`s not in any danger of becoming extinct because of Inuit hunting.

[canuckamuck]

Terry Audla, president of Canada

How to lose credibility incredibly fast.

Man I have been gone too long. When I left we had a Prime Minister.

[asupeartea]

Not before time , they have killed every single wild one in Thailand.

The Thai really MUST stop hunting the local polar bears.

[canuckamuck]

Yes it is quite ironic to see this as news in Thailand, a country that has decimated the vast majority of native species and continues to do so without any effective controls in place. Canada on the other hand is managing its species with tremendous success in nearly every instance. Polar bear numbers are up. But what species, outside of rats and soi dogs are flourishing in Thailand.