Treaty In Russia Could Allow Hunters To "Kill Polar Bears"

A new Russia-U.S. treaty could allow hunters in Russia to kill polar bears, a species already under threat from global warming, WWF said on Monday.

Russian and U.S. scientists and authorities drew up the treaty to improve cooperation and standardize treatment of polar bears living across the Bering Strait -- which stretches from Russia's Chukotka region to Alaska in the United States.

But it may force Russia to reintroduce polar bear hunting, 50 years after the Soviet Union banned it, to match legislation in Alaska, said Viktor Nikiforov, WWF Russia's polar bear expert.

"It's not a treaty about hunting, it's about cooperation and management but on the negative side it is a potential gate for the reintroduction of hunting into Russia," he said of the treaty enforced on Sunday but drawn up seven years ago when global warming was less topical." |Read more|