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Americans consider polar bear ban

Kent Driscoll
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Jan 01/07) - American wildlife officials are preparing to list the polar bear as a threatened species, with a timetable of one year.

Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne, in a statement issued Dec. 27, 2006, said he is "directing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Geological Survey to aggressively work with the public and the scientific community over the next year to broaden our understanding of what is happening to the species.
NNSL Online

United States Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne announced a one-year process on Dec. 27 that will determine the status of the polar bear in the U.S. If the animal is deemed to be threatened, its status could end American participation in Nunavut sport hunts, barring a special exemption from Congress. - photo courtesy U.S. Department of the Interior

"This information will be vital to the ultimate decision on whether the species should be listed," said Kempthorne, a former governor of Idaho appointed to cabinet by President George W. Bush in May 2006.

Following the announcement, the department began accepting proposals and information about the status of polar bears for 90 days. Following the consultation period, there will be more study. The entire process is expected to take 12 months.

"We have sufficient scientific evidence of a threat to the species to warrant proposing it for listing, but we still have a lot of work to do to enhance our scientific models and analyses before making a final decision," said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dale Hall.

Without an exemption passed by U.S. law, Nunavut's sport hunt could suffer. If the polar bear ends up on the threatened list, it would become illegal to import any polar bear parts to the U.S. The only reprieve would be a bill passed by Congress, making it legal for sport hunters to bring their trophies back to the U.S.

Current rules allow for import of polar bear parts from Inuit communities who sell part of their quota to foreign hunters.

Climate change has surfaced as one of the late priorities of the Bush administration, and the press release by the wildlife service seems tailored to echo that message.

"We are concerned the polar bears' habitat may be literally melting," said Kempthorne.

Seven of the release's 20 paragraphs mention receding sea ice or global warming.

Oil and gas exploration and "subsistence hunting" only rate one paragraph each. Both are said to "not pose a threat to the species."

An attached background document includes three pages of President George W. Bush quotes, all related to global warming.