this post was submitted on 16 Feb 2025
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156
WWF helping facilitate trade in polar bear fur, investigation reveals (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 6 days ago by flango@lemmy.eco.br to c/news@lemmy.world
20 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Wildlife charity backs policy of exploitation of small number of some endangered species for economic purposes – such as trophy hunting.

The wildlife charity WWF has been working to support the trade in polar bear fur at the same time as using images of the bears to raise money, it can be revealed.

Polar bears are severely affected by the loss of Arctic sea ice, which makes seeking prey harder and forces the bears to use more energy. In some regions, polar bears are showing signs of declining physical condition, having fewer cubs, and dying younger.

Despite their endangered status, polar bears are hunted commercially in Canada, the only country that still allows the practice after it was banned by Russia, Greenland, the US and Norway. An annual average of 300–400 skins are exported, primarily to China, where a full pelt sells for an average of $60,000 (£48,000) and is often used for luxury clothing or as a rug.

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[–] HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works 39 points 6 days ago

I'm gonna add some context to this that seems to be missing ...

  • polar bears are starving because of the loss of sea ice
  • polar bears are strictly carnivores, not omnivores -- so their diet is meat only
  • with the lack of sea ice they are spending more time on land searching for food ... so they end up in communities at dump sites ... and end up in interactions with humans
  • this has led Greenpeace and WWF to give tacit support to controlled harvests
  • in the last 40 years polar bear populations have declined by 50%, mostly due to climate change (which leads to starvation)
  • stopping climate change will help the bears far more than just stopping hunts

https://www.earth.com/news/polar-bears-are-suffering-from-an-energy-deficit-due-to-lack-of-food-access/

https://blog.animalogic.ca/news/can-polar-bear-hunting-being-justified-conservation-organisations-in-great-white-bear-brawl

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/churchill-new-waste-facility-project-1.7049919

[–] OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca 41 points 6 days ago (2 children)

polar bears are hunted commercially in Canada, the only country that still allows the practice

What the fuck?! I'm Canadian and I had no idea.

[–] Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 13 points 6 days ago (2 children)

I'm trying to go to Canada and I also did not know this. I've been active in some Canadian lemmy communities lately, and there are plenty of frustratingly ignorant people there too, I'm sad to say.

[–] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 5 points 6 days ago

I mean, US and Anglo Canadian cultures are pretty much exactly the same except for not living in the other's country (even Trudeau said that the first thing that defines Canadians is not being from the US) so yeah, don't be surprised if the idiots are the same, they feed on the same medias. Hell, most Anglo Canadians probably know more about US politics than Canadian one!

[–] CancerMancer@sh.itjust.works 1 points 5 days ago

This is a product of a few things. Example: Conrad Black and Rupert Murdoch absolutely fucking up media across the anglosphere. Another example: the Protestant Work Ethic and excessive individualism, causing people to scoff at the idea of improving working conditions, and blaming the poor for their fate. Australia and the UK are having similar experiences.

Notably Québec, despite being in Canada, is not experiencing this problem to anywhere near the same degree. This is the hint that something is deeply wrong with English-speaking media.

[–] BlameThePeacock@lemmy.ca 8 points 6 days ago (1 children)

We also allow it for grizzlies.

It's part of a population control system to make sure they don't end up in human controlled areas or killing each other due to competing for limited resources.

Same reason they do this in Africa for elephants.

There are some 16,000 polar bears in Canada, and if a fifth of those have two cubs every second year that's a lot of extra pressure on the food supply for them, which is already having issues.

They're endangered because there's not enough food to support a larger population in the areas they live, not because they can't have babies.

[–] billiam0202@lemmy.world 6 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

there’s not enough food to support a larger population in the areas they live,

And that's because the areas they live in are shrinking due to climate change.

edit: wtf autocarrot?

[–] thisismyname@lemm.ee 8 points 6 days ago (2 children)

When the fuck did The Guardian become locked behind an account?

Sign in is the only way to view articles now? Fuck that.

[–] khannie@lemmy.world 5 points 6 days ago

I didn't experience that for what it's worth. Usual "no thank you" option came up for me. I really hope they haven't gone the cunt route. I donate to them every Christmas because of their openness. Never once logged in.

[–] khannie@lemmy.world 9 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Good God. Apart from being horrible behaviour, his seems like such self-detrimental thing to do.

edit:

polar bears are hunted commercially in Canada, the only country that still allows the practice

I wonder if this was them thinking "well, if we can't stop it..." but the damage to their reputation (and surely recurring donations) is huge here.

[–] piyuv@lemmy.world 8 points 6 days ago

WWF said in a 2013 statement: “If, at some stage in the future, polar bear populations become so diminished by climate change and habitat loss, and/or if international trade presents a greater threat, we would want to revisit the Cites listing issue. But we’re not at that point.”

Yeah lets wait until it’s too late for the species

[–] Tau@lemy.lol 4 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Well, I'm not saying it is not true, but I looked up in internet and no news site has echoed this specific information. The article doesn't even say how WWF is involved. Where is the proof? It appears to be misinformation against WWF.

[–] piyuv@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)
[–] Tau@lemy.lol 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I've red them. They basically say that polar bears aren't endangered enough to get the highest level of protection (Appendix I, CITES), but at the same time they give a lot of recomendations to stop hurting their poblations.

And we can agree that polar bears should have the highest level of protection. In my opinion WWF should grant them that status, it seems a little bit unethical fron a "green" organization to say that is ok to trade with polar bear furs.

That is one thing. But to say that WWF is benefitting from trading with polar bear furs? Like wtf, it seems like a HUGE misconception argued in bad faith. As I said, where is the proof?

[–] piyuv@lemmy.world 2 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

It’s not “WWF is benefitting from..”, it’s “WWF helping facilitate trade in polar bear fur, investigation reveals”. “Investigation” here refers to the article published in guardian. The proof is the lobbying WWF did. They’re complicit in allowing this, sadly. Other NGOs stood strongly against WWF: https://ssn.org/app/uploads/2019/03/Cop16_PolarBear_EN.pdf

[–] Tau@lemy.lol 1 points 5 days ago

I see. Sad times, thanks for the info.

[–] khannie@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago

I am a sceptic so appreciate the scepticism but someone has to be the first to report on something and I'd consider them a fairly reputable source.

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I could see allowing it for animals that had to be put down for other reasons, like that poor lost soul who ended up in Iceland.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/23/climate/polar-bear-shot-iceland-intl-scli/index.html

[–] piyuv@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago

That’d only create a black market and illegal hunting. No one needs a polar bear fur rug / coat.