Urge The Obama Administration To Pursue A Worldwide Ban On The Commercial Trade In Polar Bear Parts

Despite the growing threats of climate change, toxic pollution and oil development that jeopardize the very existence of polar bears, hunters continue to kill hundreds of them every year — and are allowed to sell their body parts legally in the international market.

Right now, the Obama Administration is deciding whether or not to propose an urgently-needed ban on the commercial trade in polar bear parts at the next meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

Tell the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to propose a ban on the trafficking of polar bears for profit.

This is no time for our government to be on the fence about polar bear protection.

Polar bears are already struggling for survival. They are mortally threatened by climate change, toxic pollution and oil development.

Scientists predict that rising temperatures alone will cause two-thirds of the world’s polar bears to go extinct by 2050. We simply can’t afford to let commercial hunting and trafficking kill off hundreds of them every year.

In 2010, at the last meeting of CITES, the United States led the way and sponsored a ban — but that effort fell short of the votes needed. Since then, the polar bear’s plight has only grown more dire.

Please join the Natural Resources Defense Council and ask the Obama Administration to lead the way again by proposing a ban, in advance of the next meeting of CITES in March 2013, and to build a winning coalition with like-minded range states, such as Russia, to pass it.

Polar bears need our help more than ever.

In the face of the climate change that is ravaging their habitat, we must do everything we can to bolster their populations for the sake of polar bear survival.

NRDC hopes you’ll stand in defense of polar bears by sending a message to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today and thanks you for responding to their plight.