Guest Author - Susan Hopf
Polar Bears, Kodiak Bears and Elephants
March 5th 2010 the Humane Society of the United States releases a study that informs us that the trophy hunting of polar bears has little economic impact for the countries and people that engage in such acts. Polar bears are struggling everyday as the ice recedes. Regardless of whether this receding ice is man-made or not it still greatly impacts these bears. Without the ice bears are not able to feed without swimming great distances between meals. This not only affects their health but also the success of breeding. Fewer cubs and less successfully gained meals both contribute to less bears.
The trade of polar bear products has risen since 1996 – something I find quite remarkable considering just how morally and politically incorrect this has become. Certainly we do not need more bear skin rugs in this world and despite the many bans across the globe humans still directly continue to add to the declining numbers of these great arctic survivors.
Both Swedish and Norwegian biologists have noted that hunting for the largest and most dominant males has had several long lasting detrimental effects on the overall population of Kodiak Bears. Once the biggest bear species on the planet the size of the males has lessened as trophy hunters have continually taken the biggest males leaving the less hardy to breed. In addition, since the dominant males are no longer available to protect their harems, cub deaths are up as the smaller, less dominant, male bears kill the cubs from competing males.
These huge brown bears have been harassed so often by hunters and have grown so reclusive that they now shy away from their prime source of food. When the salmon runs and bears gather to feast scientists have noted that males attend in fewer numbers. Feasting on salmon is a bear’s prime source of fat and protein – lacking this food creates a huge gap in their overall diet and health. Animals that are not in good health fail to breed and this, of course, means that fewer cubs are born.
The only reason for hunting these incredible animals is for "product". Bears are harvested for their teeth, claws and skins for decorations as well as their gall bladders which are purported to have life extending abilities for humans.
The history of hunting elephants is nothing less than a roller coaster ride. Big game hunters and ivory traders nearly decimated elephant populations in the early 1900s. Realizing that the animals’ fate was is the hands of humans many restrictions were placed on the ivory trade as well as hunting as the population rebounded. Currently trophy hunting, illegal ivory poaching and habitat loss continues to threaten the numbers of remaining elephants.
It has been repeatedly shown that elephants mourn the loss of any member of their herd. Young animals that witness the butchering of their mother and herd mates never recover. They lead fearful and sometimes anti-social lives often banding together in groups of thugs that display acts of violence never before seen among elephants. We did this to them by interfering in their natural order.
Proponents of hunting, be it for meat or sport, like to claim that they are doing a service to the animal kingdom by culling the weak. Trophy hunters do not claim the weak – they take the largest most magnificent animals to mount and hang on their walls, throw down on the floors, sell to the highest bidder and engorge their egos. The animal losses do nothing to benefit their particular species and as we can see do more than just kill a single animal – this deplorable, completely unnecessary activity harms, in more ways than we ever imagined, the entire population of whatever species is in vogue for a thrilling hunt and decorative item.
A day in the wild of Alaska or Africa is no doubt a thrill worth engaging in but why this must include killing for some people I will never understand. The next time you are called to the wild arm yourself with compassion and a good camera. Instead of killing help to save a species so that yet another generation can experience the awe and beauty of all that nature has to give.
