International question - 24hourcampfire

I posted this up on the campfire...thought it might be better here.
Can a Canadian resident sell a polar bear hide to someone in the states? How?

Thanks

Yes it can be done. Since Polar bears/Lynx are on the CITES list- you require a CITES export permit-an you get it from the management authority of Canada. It costs around 30.00 CAN for the permit.
For more info you might try
furcanada.com

Is there a season on polar bears?Leh?

I think it is illeagle for a US resident to posses a hide unless it is from one of the importable areas or is papered before the 1972 Marine Mammals Act.

Late winter early spring. You better be in good condition if you want to keep up with them Eskimos. NWT have polar bear hunting. A friend of mine shot one years ago. Cost him 3000 bucks to get the hide and claws head done professional. Looks great.
Anyway here is one site you can check on
www.polarbearhunting.net/
Remember these things love eating people. They are the most dangerous thing to hunt.
I saw an Eskimo shoot a warning shot over a polar and it ran about 30 ft turned and charged right at him. He emptied his rifle in that thing and the 3 huskies kept it at bay until it expired. Most gruesome thing I ever saw and I was watching with a few other guys from atop the drilling unit.
Some of the fellas went and cut the claws and teeth off of it before the fish cops got there. Man were they pissed.

Wrong ropes if you have the CITES export permit you can get it into USA. Same way the guys get the cheetahs from Africa.
You need a whole bunch of cash if you want to hunt polars. Comparable to Africa hunting.

Sure you can get it in but possession might be illeagle.

In some states it is against the law just to posses a certain skin ... for instance Mt Lion in Calif. You can kill and posses Ringtale Cats in Arizona but possession of them is illeagle in several states.

Polar Bears can only be imported from the importable areas.

Most of Polar Beardom is non-importable.

If you currently posses a Polar bear hide (or mount) you better have the papers (cities) among others that it is from an importable area ... or taken and papered before the 1972 Marine Mammals Act which made it illeagle to kill or possess a Polar Bear hide or mount ... unless it is authentic native handy craft, defined in the law. The law was later amended to allow possession and importation from certain areas.

That is the reason there is a major difference in the costs of the guided hunts. The non-importable areas low $ hunt the importable area high $ hunt. The law dosen't stop an American from hunting a non-importable area but they can only bring back photos and memories from their hunt. Many skins are in Canadian storage right now from some of the non-importable areas in hopes that the Fed would open those areas for import. But things have gone the other way in the wake of Global Warming and the idea that the Polar Bear is in trouble ... in some Americans eyes.

If the Bear is listed (under current review) per the Endangered Species Act it will stop the importation even from the now importable areas.

http://www.bowhuntingsafari.com/html/cpolarbear.html

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Polar Bears are found in the farthest northern portions of North America. Nanook, as the Inuit people call the polar bear, is truly one of the greatest trophy animals on the earth. For a period of time, polar bears could not be legally brought back to the United States, but recently, more and more locations throughout the NWT's have been opened up to bears being "importable". There are still locations that are "non-importable". While polar bear hunting is still legal in each of these areas, the "importable" bear hunts bring a higher price.

Non-importable means that no CITIES will be issued for that Bear and it is against the law to possess that Bear in the US.

http://www.advwild.com/ArcticPolarBearPB1.htm

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Hunt Prices:
14 Day 1 on 2 Hunts:
Importable to U.S. - $24,900.00 US
Non- Importable to U.S. - Prices start @ $21,000.00 US

http://www.fourstarhunting.com/canada/northwest_territories/holman_nunavut/polar_bear_2.htm

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Holman, Northwest Territories (Importable to the States)
Pelly Bay/Hall Beach, Nunavut (Not importable to the States)

http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/PolarBears/pbconservation.html

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C. United States Marine Mammal Protection Act, 1972.

1.Polar bears are protected under the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA).

2.The primary objective of the MMPA is to maintain the health and stability of the marine ecosystem and to obtain and maintain an optimum sustainable population of marine mammals.

3.The MMPA prohibits taking and importing marine mammals unless a permit is issued for the purposes of public display, native subsistence, scientific research, or sustaining a depleted species. MMPA revisions in 1994 allow U.S. citizens to import polar bear "trophies" acquired in Canadian hunts. Polar bears in Alaska can be hunted only by Alaskan natives.

http://www.furcanada.com the site will work now if you click on it. Export permits and info is posted. Contact them for the latest info on importation to the USA. The USA government body responsible has taken Canada NWT to court over this matter, but are sure to loose. The polar bear population is doing very well and culling is actually recommended by biologists in northern Canada. Check the sites out and ask questions to the experts before buying hides or hunting is my reccomendation. Get it right from the horses mouth. Have a good day.

Thanks everybody...I will pass along the info to my buddy in SK

A US citizen cannot import a Canadian Polar Bear Hide. The only way a US citizen can import a hide is if the person sport hunted it him self.

It is the same as with Elephant Ivory. It can only be imported when sport hunted by the hunter.

Cheetah cannot be imported into the US either.

While all three are CITES 1, the US does not allow importation of Cheetah at all.

The US thinks it is smarter than the rest of the world. Perhaps you've noticed?