Purpose: This bill would allow the importation of polar bear trophies taken in sport hunts in Canada. The MMPA established a moratorium on the import of marine mammals and marine mammal products, including the import of all sport-hunted marine mammal trophies. However, in 1994, the MMPA was modified to allow the import of sport-hunted trophies from Canada and this remained true until polar bears recently were deemed a threatened species.
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Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife.
Action: OPPOSE. Please contact your Representative and urge him/her to oppose H.R.1055. Tell your Representative that polar bears are a threatened species and H.R. 1055 will only undercut their chances of survival.
Talking Points for your letter:
- Based on threats to polar bear populations, the U.S. Department of the Interior proposed in 2006 that polar bears be listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. They were listed as threatened in 2008.
- Polar bears have low reproductive rates, have long lives, and rely on high adult survival rates to maintain population numbers. Polar bear populations are under stress from climate change and habitat degradation.
- Polar bear hunting in the United States is prohibited except for small numbers of Alaskans who must do so for subsistence.
- The U.S. should not condone hunting a threatened species. Trophy hunters shouldn’t be able to skirt the spirit of U.S. law by killing polar bears abroad and bringing their heads back across the border to America.
- H.R. 1055 will ensure that citizens of the U.S. contribute to polar bear mortalities in Canada by allowing permits to be issued to U.S. trophy hunters for the import of polar bear trophies from Canada.