Polar Bears May Face Extinction! Put Away Your Guns, Respect Nature

On January 25th, according to the British ‘Mirror’ reported that environmental conservationist Ole Liodden called for people to stop hunting polar bears, otherwise polar bears may face extinction.

Ole said that the double impact of climate change faced by polar bears comes more from sporting hunting and bear skin trade, which poses a great threat to the survival of polar bears.

Ola is a prize-winning wildlife photographer and also a naturalist environmentalist. He spent four years dedicated to letting people understand the conflicts of polar bears. He told reporters that hunters often kill the strongest and healthiest polar bears, so only the old, weak, sick and remaining polar bears are left to pass down their lineage.

He said: ‘We should ban sporting hunting and polar bear fur trade. Only in this way do polar bears have a chance of survival.’

From 2007 to 2016, about 9000 polar bears were killed in the Arctic. Since 1960, more than 50,000 have been hunted, which is almost half of the current surviving population.

When talking about the attraction of polar bears to hunters, Ole Liodden said: ‘Polar bears are the most sophisticated targets for sporting hunters. But because of their low cub survival rate, low reproduction rate, and the impact of climate change, they are the least suitable targets for sporting hunting.’

Hunting of polar bears began in the 1940s in Alaska, USA, Svalbard and Norway. At that time, only a few polar bears were hunted.

But it soon spread with the involvement of many wealthy people, which spawned this industry. People quickly used airplanes, helicopters and ships to hunt polar bears. In 1957, Russia banned the killing of polar bears, followed by 1972 and 1973, the USA and Norway also banned this sporting hunting.

The Arctic region of Canada is currently the only place where polar bears are legally hunted.

Last summer, the ‘Mirror’ investigation found that many companies in the Arctic offer hunting activities, and they claim to be able to provide collectors with ‘most valuable’ trophies. Customers pay 3.6 million pounds, and they can hunt for 12 days, and they also provide animal specimen making services. These companies are proud to say that customers can ‘hunt 100% successfully’.

According to the WWF statistics, there are currently about 20,000 to 25,000 wild polar bears. However, if the Arctic climate continues to warm, the number may decrease by two-thirds by the middle of this century.

The ‘Mirror’ launched an activity to ban sporting hunting, and the activity initiator Eduardo Goncalves said: ‘Why does this cruel hunting activity exist? These are destructive genes.’