Posted on 11/11/2008 10:17:26 AM PST by milwguy
The World Wildlife Fund is condemning Nunavut for maintaining its polar bear hunt quota in the Baffin Bay area, warning that boycotts may follow the decision.
CBC News revealed this week that Environment Minister Olayuk Akesuk accepted a recommendation from the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board not to change this season's polar bear quota for the Baffin Bay area, despite concerns from government officials about overhunting.
"This is an unfortunate, huge mistake of global significance," Peter Ewins, conservation director with World Wildlife Fund Canada, told CBC News on Wednesday.
"There will be major global pressure on Inuit and Canada and Nunavut to reverse the decision, to actually get serious about taking measures to recover and conserve polar bears."
This year's quota in Baffin Bay — an area between northern Baffin Island and Greenland — will remain at 105 polar bears. Nunavut environment officials have wanted the quota to be reduced to 64 bears or less.
While the officials have said the Baffin Bay quota is too high as it is, with overhunting from hunters in both Nunavut and Greenland, the government deferred any decision to change the quota until next year.
Officials told CBC News that Akesuk agreed to keep the quota unchanged partly due to concerns from area hunters, and partly because of the amount of time it took for the wildlife board to make a decision on whether to change the quota.
Polar bear numbers rising, hunters insist Lootie Toomasie, chairman of the Nattivak Hunters and Trappers Association in the Baffin Bay community of Qikiqtarjuaq, insisted that the number of polar bears is actually rising in the area.
"We live with them and we see them, so we are the first people who should be making [a] decision," Toomasie said.
"Those people somewhere down south, they don't know. They only see the numbers on the paper."
But the WWF disagrees, saying it wants Jim Prentice, the new federal environment minister, to work out a solution between Inuit hunters, the Nunavut government and Greenland.
Ewins said it's clear that the combined polar bear hunt by Nunavut and Greenland hunters in Baffin Bay is too high, and that's bound to provoke a reaction in Europe.
"I don't think it will be many months before … the European Union and most European countries will close off the importation of any polar bear parts [or trophies] to Europe," he said, pointing to similar bans on seal products in some European nations.
"It's unaccountable, indefensible, and it simply has to be reversed before Nunavut and Canada is subject to yet more boycotts."
Well, looks the the local INUIT up in Baffin bay have no use for the WWF. They are telling the envirowackos to stick it where the sun don;t shine. They want their polar bear hunts, and they ain't going to give an inch. Of course the agenda of the socialist/marxist WWF is to use the polar bear to acheive their political goals, so they are no happy. The INUIT know better, they say the polar bears are becoming MORE numerous, not less. SHHH|||don't tell anyone. This does not fir the world according to the WWF and Branch Algorians.
I saw a Polar Bear ad and they were drinking Coca Cola.
Thats it. I’m boycotting Baffin Island.
...personally, I don’t understand why you would want to shoot a Polar Bear anyway. They’re beautiful animals.
This sounds better than the Ultimate Dog Fighting League I've been e-mailing Vince McMahon about.
Owl_Eagle
”You know, I'm going to start thanking
the woman who cleans the restroom in
the building I work in. I'm going to start
thinking of her as a human being”-Hillary Clinton
(Yes, she really said that
Peggy Noonan
The Case Against Hillary Clinton, pg 55)
So are elk. BLAM! And deer...BLAM!
That's it, I'm boycotting WWF.
I saw WWF and I was wondering what the hell Rick Flair was doing with polar bears. WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
That’s just too funny.
Now that’s awful damn funny!
I guess that's why they make chocolate and vanilla. I can't think of anything more exciting than gunning down a couple of polar bears from a helicopter.
Owl_Eagle
”You know, I'm going to start thanking
the woman who cleans the restroom in
the building I work in. I'm going to start
thinking of her as a human being”-Hillary Clinton
(Yes, she really said that
Peggy Noonan
The Case Against Hillary Clinton, pg 55)
Four words: RAGE IN THE CAGE!
Not since those "pencil neck geeks" turned it into a gymnastic event.
That is so stolen.
When you see me posting it around here, try to act like you haven't seen it before.
Owl_Eagle
”You know, I'm going to start thanking
the woman who cleans the restroom in
the building I work in. I'm going to start
thinking of her as a human being”-Hillary Clinton
(Yes, she really said that
Peggy Noonan
The Case Against Hillary Clinton, pg 55)
Scott Haugen tells an interesting tale about bloodtrailing a polar bear...it was an Inuit’s blood...that came into a village and dragged said Inuit out of his home. He could tell where the bear had stopped to try to finish the guy off a couple of times. Said it looked like the guy put up a hell of a fight. Some of these villages store their winters meat outside in snow banks, bears come in for easy meat. They kill people. BLAM!
And maybe they taste good, too.
A little research will reveal that one interesting member of the WWF board is none other that the Babbitt fellow, hope I got this right. He was Clinton’s head of the Department of the Interior. He’s also guilty of something but the Clintons keep blocking any prosecution.
He’s at the head of the WWF which does, as indicated by this commenter, have that lying sack of crap commercial with the Mama polar bear and the baby floating apart as the ice melts.
It’s the stuff of Oprah and her audience.
will do. :o)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.