Projo Politics Blog

The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee yesterday approved an amendment by Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., to prevent American trophy hunters from killing polar bears abroad and bringing their heads and hides back to the United States, Reed's office said.

Reed’s legislation closes a loophole in the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act by prohibiting the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from using federal money to issue permits allowing the importation of polar bear parts taken from international sport hunting.

“Polar bears are rapidly becoming an endangered species. It is illegal to hunt these bears for sport in the United States. Trophy hunters shouldn’t be able to skirt the spirit of U.S. law by killing polar bears abroad and bringing their heads back across the border to America,” said Reed, a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior and Environment. “This amendment will ensure that the United States shuts down this practice and prevents the killing of these animals for their heads.”

Polar bear hunting for sport is allowed in Canada and Greenland, according to Reed's office. Hunting for polar bears is prohibited in the United States except for Alaskan natives who are permitted to hunt a small number of bears for subsistence, according to Reed's office.

---