Editor:
Earlier this winter found me stopped in my tracks staring at a polar bear hide draped in the window of a local clothing store on Main Street in Canmore.
A man sitting on a nearby bench stared at me as I stood in disbelief. I pointed and said “Did you see that?” He agreed it wasn’t appropriate to have a polar bear hide displayed in Canmore. A week or two later, I read how that hide was stolen, then recovered, and valued at $30,000.
So why does a polar bear hide displayed in a store front bother me? Perhaps it is because of our close proximity to grizzly habitat, where, like polar bears, grizzlies are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
Norway is the only polar bear nation that protects polar bears from all forms of hunting. Three of the other four polar bear range nations permit native hunts – a traditionally important cultural activity and source of income.
Canada, home to 60 per cent of the polar bear population, is the only nation that allows natives to sell their quotas to non-natives and non-citizens for sport/trophy hunting. Like grizzlies, most hunted polar bears in Canada are only for their hides, paws, claws and heads. The meat is left behind.
While it is agreed that population censuses for both polar and grizzly bears are difficult and likely inaccurate, why do we take the chance of putting these monarchs of the wilds at risk? Why drape a polar bear hide in a storefront window in downtown Canmore?
Jane Whitney,
Canmo
