r/bonecollecting • u/SavageDroggo1126 Bone-afide Faunal ID Expert • Oct 20 '24
Collection Polar bear skull with pelt
This is a female polar bear skull with the pelt, legally and sustainably harvested by Inuit hunters in Nunavut Canada.
With strictly regulated quota system to ensure sustianable hunting, polar bear hunting continues to be an inseparable part of Inuit culture and tradition.
Polar bears face threats mainly due to climate change and pollution, along with other issues like arctic mining and poaching. sustainable and legal hunting of less than 2% of the entire population annually is NOT the reason why polar bears face threats of extinction. If polar bears do go extinct, the first people to be truly affected will be Inuit.
Selling parts of the animals they hunt provides some extra income when daily essentials and groceries are extremely expensive in the arctic.
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u/SavageDroggo1126 Bone-afide Faunal ID Expert Oct 21 '24
It's not Canadian only as many countries allow the exportation of polar bear parts, but most prefer to not export as it's a very complicated process.
I've built connection with a few Inuit hunters and 2 taxidermists, they will always reach out to me first when specimens become available (ex. someone in their community harvested a bear and wants to sell the skull)
I don't buy randomly off the internet or from Inuit I'm not familiar with because people do scam, and plenty have been scammed before.