WASHINGTON (CN) - In the ongoing fight over the fate of the polar bear, hunting businesses are asking in court that the Department of the Interior remove the bear from the list of threatened species.
Plaintiffs claim that "revenue and economic benefits from the U.S. citizen sport hunting supports the conservation and management of the species, not competes with or threatens its existence."
"The financial incentives arising from the sport hunting by U.S. citizens is inextricably linked to the increase in the number of bear today," claim plaintiffs Conservation Force, the Inuvialuit Game Council, Arviat Hunters and Trappers Organization, the Resolute Bay Hunters and Trappers Organization and various outfitters and individuals.
They say the polar bear's "threatened" listing is particularly unfair to "U.S. citizens who sport-hunted polar bear but had not yet completed the lengthy trophy import permit application process before the effective date of the listing. Generally, the plaintiffs are the first and greatest conservationists of polar bear in the world," they say in their federal complaint.
They want the polar bear delisted so it can be free to be hunted. They are represented by John Jackson III of Metairie, La.
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