Polar Bear Protection Act of 2007

Now that adults are back in charge of the Congress we are starting to see more and more pieces of legislation designed to protect our Mother Earth in any number of ways. Although the Bush Abomination continues to eviscerate protections for wetlands (they do it by rules, not by legislation) there are signs of some hope.

With Democrats (= adults) in charge we should no longer see programs designed to line the pockets of contributors taking precedence. Gone are the days of the "Clear Skies Initiative" that caused more air pollution. Gone are the days of Bush's No Tree Left Behind policy for National Forests.

One of the most important recent pieces of legislation proposed in the current Congress (other than the legislation to return our kids from Bush's quagmire in Iraqnam) is the Polar Bear Protection Act of 2007. Its bill number is HR 2327

Among other things the purposes of this this legislation are:

(1) To ensure that citizens of the United States do not contribute to polar bear mortalities in Canada by removing the exemption in that Act that allows for the Secretary of the Interior to issue permits to United States trophy hunters for the importation of polar bear trophies from Canada.

(2) To heed the warnings of the Department of the Interior and the World Conservation Union Polar Bear Specialist Group that polar bears are at risk and could become endangered, by prohibiting such importation.

(3) To further the goals of the International Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears, to which all five nations with polar bears within their borders are a party.


Sister legislation has been introduced in the Senate in the form of Senate Bill S 1406 introduced by John Kerry. Its purposes are essentially the same as the House bill.

This is no-brainer legislation that anyone with an inkling of concern for Mother Earth will get behind. However some of you out there are represented by Neanderthal's like John Boehner of Ohio, James Inhofe of Oklahoma and Norm Coleman in Minnesota.

Each and everyone of them needs to hear from you regarding your support for this legislation.

The only Polar Bears I have ever seen were at Churchill, Manitoba in September 1982. My then 2-year old daughter Dana saw the first bear as it ambled up over the rocks along the shore of Hudson's Bay. In the next couple of days we saw four more of them including mom and a pair of twins. There is not much more exciting in nature than the awe that overcomes you and the goose bumps that engulf you when you see Nanuk in the wild.

As a former hunter I cannot understand how anyone in their right mind would want to kill one of these fantabulous creatures. Yet they still do. Passage of both of this legislation will certainly reduce the ability of Americans (at least) to go to Canada to kill this magnificent beast and then try to import it back to the States.

Crank up your word processor and send a letter to both of your Senators urging them to support S 1406 and contact your Congressman and ask him/her to support HR 2327.

I can't wait for the fall out from little kids if the Congress passes the legislation and then that asshole Bush refuses to sign it.