The rarest, one of a kind bear on earth shot dead...

A hybrid bear rug will look *awesome* under the mantle [yeah, they probably didn't know].
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DNA Tests Confirm Bear Was a Hybrid



Northern hunters, scientists and people with vivid imaginations have discussed the possibility for years.

But Roger Kuptana, an Inuvialuit guide from Sachs Harbour, North West Territories, was the first to suspect it had actually happened when he proposed that a strange-looking bear shot last month by an American sports hunter might be half polar bear, half grizzly.

Territorial officials seized the creature after noticing its white fur was scattered with brown patches and that it had the long claws and humped back of a grizzly. Now a DNA test has confirmed that it is indeed a hybrid — possibly the first documented in the wild.

"We've known it's possible, but actually most of us never thought it would happen," said Ian Stirling, a polar bear biologist with the Canadian Wildlife Service in Edmonton.

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Well you know what I mean ~ there probably isn't another one on the earth right now, but they aren't 'extinct' in the classic sense. Still kind of sad though any time something so rare dies - particularly when it was killed for sport.

 

Yeah, I was thinking this as well -- I didn't think Polar Bears were exactly in a state of overpopulation right now.

~A quick google~

Polar Bears are currently listed as threatened, certainly shouldn't be hunted for sport IMHO.

 

From the World Wildlife Federation...
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Polar bears are on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and are currently classified as Lower Risk/Conservation Dependent on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Individual countries with polar bear populations also have individual definitions of the population status and management recommendations for their respective populations.

The international Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears allows for the taking of polar bears for use by local people using traditional methods and exercising traditional rights.

Though much traditional hunting by local communities is sustainable, the IUCN Polar Bear Specialist Group (PBSG) documents that, both historically and currently, the main threat to polar bears remains over-hunting.

Today, legal hunting of polar bears by non-native sport hunters is only found in Canada. The community itself decides what proportion of the quota it has been issued will be used for outside sport hunters.

In the areas that lack monitoring, such as Russia, little information is available on current hunting practices. Since it is not known whether killing polar bears is balanced against the sustainable yield of a known population size in such areas, there is reason for concern regarding the sustainability of these practices.

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