Is Polar Bear hair legal?

[chusha]

I have been talking with a fly tier who has some Polar Bear hair he wants to sell.
Is it legal for this great material to be on the market?

Thanks, chusha

[GrayGhost]

yes you still can get polor bear, it has to have come into the US of A before they went on the endangerd list but there is still legal hair for sale in the here, it not cheap but it here and yes you can still use in in flys
Ghost

[LadyFisher]

There are also 'sellers' who have permits to obtain and sell it. There is one listed on our Fly Tying Suppliers list:

The Serious Fisherman
(Legal Polar Bear) USF&W Permit #764657
East 1074 19th Ave.
Spokane, WA 99206
(800) 347-4654


(Also legal in Canada if you can get it across the border)



[This message has been edited by LadyFisher (edited 16 April 2005).]

[Yaffle]

L.F. we grow the Polar bears here.
I get it from my local fly shop, the owner of the shop is a police officer, so I think its legal. If not he's in more trouble than I am . -Yaf

[RonMT]

Yaffle- LF is talking about the US not Canada. It is legal in Canada but is not legal if it is not a pre indangered act bear in the states. Most bears sold in the states are bears that were shot many years ago and are being bought and cut up either from mounted bears or rugged bears. That is about the only Polar bear hair that is legal here in the states. Or hair that was cut up and in fly shops before the act. Ron

[Yaffle]

Ron, thanks, I miss read the comment in brackets.

L.F. sorry. I,m blushing with embaresment. -Yaf

[Stu Farnham]

I've been researching this because most people don't know what the law is, they know what they have heard the law is.

As nearly as I have been able to figure out, polar bears are covered under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 in the US. From my reading of the act there appear to be a couple of exemptions under which PB can legally be imported/sold in the US. One applies to bears captured as part of subssitence hunting my indigenous people in Alaska; the other covers PBs taken as part of sport hunting in Canada.

More after I finish slogging through the legislation. Those interested can self-slog at [url=http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/laws/mmpa.htm:e8ad1]http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/laws/mmpa.htm[/url:e8ad1]

Stu

[Ronn Lucas]

If anyone can make sense out of the various rules, the stuff may still not be legal.

Regarding Polar Bear. Eskimo natives are allowed to hunt them and possess the fur BUT, it may not be sold unless it has been made into a craft item.

Waterfowl and upland game birds and game animals (I think). You can shoot and use the materials of the birds on flies but you cannot sell the feathers. You can give them away. Many if not most duck feathers we use in tying are from captive birds BUT I would be sure many are not.

Much of the vagaries of the rules are up to the game warden to figure out and there is where one might have trouble. You need to be able to prove your Polar Bear hair (and some other materials) are preban.

It's a mess and just another bungled job of the gov. to regulate something no matter how well intentioned. There are always unintended consequences.

Happy Trails!
Ronn

[LWilliams]

Ronn,

So technically, the mallard quill slip winged BWO that was framed and sold in Somewheretown, USA is contraband because the duck was shot and not a captive bird? Ditto with the PT nymph in the other frame since that ringneck was born and shot on a North Dakota farm?

The problem would be in proving the origin of the material (wild versus domestic). Correct? I do not see why a guy using the flank from his duck harvest for his side commercial tying orders is any worse than Mepps' bounty on squirrel tails! It's a good use of a by-product of a fine sport I would think.

Besides utterly ridiculous, very confusing. Obtaining a game bird legally and making good use of the non edibles seems to be good conservation to me.

[This message has been edited by LWilliams (edited 18 April 2005).]

[lee s]

What you say LW is true....confusing to say the least.
However, have you ever seen common sense or morality to be the product of or the basis of legislation?