The appalling fate of the polar bear, symbol of the Arctic

It has been declared at risk by conservation groups. Yet rich Westerners are paying thousands of dollars for the privilege of shooting an animal whose very existence is already threatened by environmental disaster. Geoffrey Lean reports from Ilulissat, Greenland, on a fight for survival

Polar bears – the very symbol of the Arctic's looming environmental disaster – are crashing towards extinction as a result of global warming, the US government has found. The admission, the result of a massive investigation by the Bush administration, could force the President finally to take action against climate change.

The Arctic crisis has become so compelling that leaders of the world's main religions gathered this weekend on the iceberg-studded sea off this small town, deep in the Arctic Circle on the west Greenland coast, to pray for the planet. Bartholomew I, the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox church – who convened the group – told them: "the danger of an avoidable catastrophe is now more acute than ever." On Friday senior representatives of the Roman Catholic and protestant churches, Sunni and Shia Islam,and the Hebrew, Hindu, Shinto and Buddhist Zen religions joined the Patriarch in silent prayer on the prow of a liner under a lowering sky in the shadow of giant icebergs.

Full Story, Independent UK, September 9, 2007


The bloody business of the trophy hunters

Rich "sportsmen" are paying up to $35,000 (£17,000) per trip to hunt down and kill polar bears, which are then stuffed and mounted for display.

An IoS investigation has identified 10 companies offering polar bear hunting trips. On many of their websites are images of bloody bear carcasses, besides which a grinning hunter poses with gun or crossbow.

Full story, Independent UK, September 9, 2007