Polar Bear Trophy Hunting

Polar bears are in such trouble that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service has proposed listing them as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act.

Care2.com is asking citzens to sign an online petition on their website to tell the Service to stop issuing polar bear trophy permits immediately.

"Canadian polar populations are declining due to global warming and other threats," said Rebecca Young of Care2.com. "In fact, World Conservation Union's Polar Bear Specialist Group predicts that polar bear populations could drop 30 percent in the next 35-50 years and that polar bears may disappear entirely from most of their range within 100 years."

Hunting polar bears is already banned in the U.S. But due to a huge loophole in the Marine Mammal Protection Act, American trophy hunters can travel to Canada, kill a polar bear, and bring back polar bear trophies, wrote Young.

"We may not be able to stop Canada from allowing hunting, but we can stop the U.S. from allowing Americans to import polar bear trophies," she stated.

In unrelated animal news, in July People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) informed Animal Control in Green Cove Springs, FL about numerous animals in a home there who were being kept in "nightmarish" conditions. Before the sheriff's office responded to PETA's complaint, the organization made sure that the dog had received clean water. The case was "horrifying but by no means surprising," PETA staff said. PETA say they are working to remove thousands of animals from hoarders in various parts of the country and they need donations.

"Hoarders are sometimes thought to be kind people who are simply trying to help animals," said Ingrid Newkirk of PETA. "Hoarding is an obsession and a mental illness that causes people to severely neglect the animals in their charge."

In other non-profit news, the Make-A-Wish Foundation planned a trip for a family this past summer for Florida, especially for a little girl named Katie. She was diagnosed with an inoperable tumor and wanted to go to Disney World one last time with her family.