Polar bear trophy hunters pose with bloodied animals in advertisement for firms offering $44,000 trips to the Arctic for a hunt
Revolting pictures of trophy hunters posing beside bloodied bodies of slaughtered polar bears are being used to advertise hunt exhibitions in the Arctic by trophy-hunting adventure firms for thousands of dollars, ensuring "high success rates and good trophy quality."
One of these firms, Nebraska-based Worldwide Trophy Adventures, even provides its customers an offer to "return for another 10 days if a polar bear is not taken," according to its website.
"Hunting is carried out on the sea ice in prime areas. Services of an Inuit polar bear guide with a team is provided through the duration of the hunt," the website boasts. "The hunt ends when a bear is harvested.”
Trophy hunters on these trips generally kill a specific species in their natural habitat to add to their mantel. They often remove body parts of the slain animal, and sometimes illegally transport them to the USA or UK to be preserved and displayed in their homes as a trophy sign. According to experts, nearly 5,000 polar bears have been killed for sport in the Arctic circle in recent years as the species is becoming increasingly scarce in numbers.
There has also been a noted increase in the number of specialist hunting firms providing such trips to the Arctic circle right above Canada. These trips are particularly catered to customers in the UK, US, and China.
The Founder of the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting, Eduardo Gonçalves, while talking to The Mirror, said: "It is well known polar bears are in serious danger of becoming extinct because of climate change. If we want to see them survive, we need to stop the senseless slaughter. The Government should ban imports of all hunting trophies right away."
There are multiple firms offering a variety of hunting services of majestic creatures to shoot and kill, including lions, elephants, and leopards. These firms, however, market hunts in the Arctic Circle as "the most memorable" among trophy collectors. The hunting companies offer prices over $44,500 for 12-day hunts camping in Arctic conditions, which also include services of a taxidermist, who turns the specimens into rugs for the hunters’ living rooms.
"Your Polar Bear hide, skull, and baculum bone will be shipped frozen to a recommended Canadian Taxidermist to be fleshed and cleaned properly," one of these websites state.
The World Wildlife Foundation has classified polar bears as "vulnerable" and believe that there are only 22,000-31,000 of the species left across the planet.