Endangered species deserve better

Fish don’t vote. Neither do tigers, polar bears, sharks, elephants or any other endangered animals whose plight was addressed at the UN meeting on endangered species in Doha.

Because wildlife has no political clout, nations around the world continue to destroy entire species until none are left. So much for enlightened humanity at work in the 21st century.

An admirable effort by the United States to protect the gravely overfished Pacific bluefin tuna, the supreme sushi or sashimi delicacy, was voted down by the conferees after intense lobbying from Japan.

Another laudable effort by the United States to protect polar bears by banning their hunting was also defeated —thanks in good part to Canada and Greenland. The U.S. warns that melting sea ice caused by global warming threatens the already endangered bears.

Canadians like to think of themselves as a humane, enlightened nation and good global citizens.
But abroad, Canada is increasingly viewed as a backwards, brutish country because of its stalwart defence of slaughtering baby seals, trapping fur animals, encouraging the hunting of black and grizzly bears, and now blocking a ban on hunting polar bears.

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