So, what is the fall-out for polar bear outfitters now that the bear’s listing as a threatened species under the US Endangered Species Act has all but eliminated the US hunting market? Is anyone going out of business? Will sporthunting for polar bear survive? Will prices for these hunts plummet? And what will happen to polar bear populations now?
We checked in this month with the major Arctic operators to get a sense of how things are shaking out up north. Suffice it to say, their tone was somber at best. People throughout the Canadian north who depend on polar bear hunters for their livelihoods are clearly upset about, and disappointed with, the US Fish & Wildlife Service and the global-warming bandwagon they jumped on to list the polar bear as threatened. However, no one we spoke to is throwing in the towel. Pat Fredrick of Ameri-cana Expeditions (780-469-0579), Fred Webb of Webb Outfitting (250-577-3708) and Jerome Knap of Canada North Outfitting (613-256-4057) all say they are going to hang in there, relying on the non-US market to take up some of the slack. Also, they point out that some Americans were venturing into the Arctic in the 1990s, before the bear was importable into the US, and some will surely continue to do so now. We’re talking, of course, about hunters who are satisfied merely to have ventured into perhaps the harshest environment in the world after a magnificent and deadly quarry. These hunters are willing to bring home photographs documenting their achievement and leave their trophies behind.....
