There are only around 26,000 polar bears left on earth. Although climate change severely threatens their survival, up to 1,000 are killed for their skins and as hunting trophies each year.. Almost 53,500 polar bears died like this between 1963 and 2016 – that's more than twice today's global population. This trade is entirely legal and simply has to stop! We must urge the member states of the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), including all polar bear range states, to ban the international trade in polar bear skins and trophies at their next meeting in November. Please sign our petition now and help protect polar bears!
Canada is the only range state that not only allows the systematic killing of polar bears to export their body parts. In fact, Canada even promotes this trade, although for two decades, polar bear kill-quotas have largely been set against scientific advice for two decades. That's because essential information needed to assess whether Canada's polar bear quotas are sustainable are often missing, vastly out of date, unreliable or even being withheld.
Thousands of polar bears are shot every year to be reduced to rugs and trophies, while the international community not only looks on, but even imports these items. Ending the trade in polar bear products is the most important conservation action we can take for polar bears right now. Sorting out climate change is a much longer road. This requires a strong stand at the next CITES conference. This action has become even more urgent since authorities in Canada announced plans to actively pursue a reduction of polar bear numbers.
Please sign this petition now to stand up for polar bears, so they can keep the skin on their backs!
Petition Text: The international trade in skins and hunting trophies is eroding the survival of polar bears, which is already compromised as a result of climate change. As a representative of a party to CITES we urge you most sincerely to support an immediate end to the unsustainable international commercial trade in polar bear skins, hunting trophies and other products by strengthening the protection status of polar bears from CITES Appendix II to Appendix I.
