He broke the law, and chances are, this was not the first hide he bought. It's just the first time he was caught. I hope they prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law, mainly for criminal stupidity!
Polar Fibers are readily available everywhere, cheap and are virtually indistiguishable from real Polor Bear fur, so why did this clown even take a chance? Stupid, stupid, stupid!
And, I look at it the same way I do drug crimes. Users are just as much a menace as the dealers are, because they are creating the market. If you knowingly use illegal materials, you are just as guilty as the person who illegally sells them, because you created the market. You should be punished accordingly.
I am not a Tree-Hugger, or PETA supporter, but I do witness the destruction of our environment daily, and I believe there is a happy medium somewhere. There is a balance point to where industry can thrive, and the environment can be preserved. We just need to come up with new development models. As for the Polar Bears, isn't it enough that thier habitat is shrinking? Do we also have to kill them simply to tie a few flies, when substitutes are readily available? In my opinion, that is inhuman. This isn't like chicken feathers, or animals that are raised on farms for that purpose, and whose numbers will not be threatened. This is a threatened species that is in danger of going the way of the Passenger Pidgeon, the Carolina Parakeet, the Thylacine and Moa. I wouldn't take this lightly at all. Poaching is still a serious problem world-wide.
Okay, I'm off the soapbox. It's someone else's turn.