Rich Chinese thrill seekers paying £50,000 for ‘trip of a lifetime…’ to kill endangered polar bears
Alan Wilson, Wikimedia
Related, please click and sign HERE and HERE to rein in global warming and help save the polar bear in this manner.
Please also click on the petition to urge the Canadian government to prohibit killing polar bears for pure sport as well as commercial trade in polar bear products: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/553/856/036/
Source: The Daily Mail
By Peter Simpson
China’s thrill-seeking nouveau riche are being offered a £50,000 trip of a lifetime – hunting down endangered polar bears, the Daily Mail can reveal.
The expensive price tag for the 10-day expedition across the polar ice pack in Canada includes the services of a taxidermist, who at the end of the hunt turns the trophy specimens into prized rugs for the “rookie” hunters’ living rooms.
‘The polar bear is the most extreme of natural enemies in North America,’ declares the Beijing-based I Love Hunting Club in its brochure.
‘Their weight can reach one ton, and they can grow to more than three meters in length. The huge male bear specimens are the most majestic, most beautiful of hunting prizes![sic]’ reads the advert in Chinese.
After flying first class and acclimatising at their five star hotel, the hunters – super rich Chinese business men and women – set out on dog sleds across the protected polar bear habitats in search of their controversial quarry.
With the help of expert trackers from local Inuit communities, they stalk their prey and dispatch the iconic animals with bullets from a high-powered rifle, for which they are given fast-track training.
As an extra souvenir, the hunters are also given a personalized photo album and DVD film of their “exotic shoot”.
Included in the cost are luxury facilities, hunting licenses issued by the Canadian Government, visas, an interpreter, “rifles and bullets” and the “highest standard of outdoor sports insurance”.
‘Each hunter is allowed to kill one male only. We then turn them into rugs.
‘Many Chinese buy expensive polar rugs smuggled into China. But these cost up to £40,000 pound each, so going to hunt for your own is attractive to my clients,’ said the hunting club’s owner, Scott Lupien, a professional hunter from California.
Mr Lupien says his club caters to two kinds of clients – experienced enthusiasts and novice tycoons seeking their first kill.
‘I also teach the Chinese about conservation. That is an important part of the trip. Hunting by quota helps endangered species,’ said Mr Lupien, who also offers hunting trips to South Africa, the US and South America.
‘If a male runs into a female with cubs, it attacks the cubs. Hunting males actually helps the young population survive,’ claimed fluent Chinese-speaker Mr Lupien, 43, who has been running his club in China for four years.
‘The animal rights guys know this but they don’t want to admit it. And if you believe the ice caps are melting as some claim, these bears are going to die anyway, so you may as well hunt them,’ he told the Daily Mail.
Mr Lupien’s website, 52safari.com, shows numerous videos of Chinese hunters shooting lions, zebra, gazelles, moose, black bears and mountain lions, among other species.
Scores of photos show the hunters posing with their kill.
The “only professional hunting club” in China was last night condemned by international animal rights groups and the public.
The UK Director of International Fund for Animal Welfare, Robbie Marsland, said putting a price tag on wildlife was the quickest way to drive species to extinction.
‘The IFAW opposes the cruel and unnecessary killing of these animals which are already under increased threat from habitat loss. We urge members of the [Chinese] public to avoid taking part in the needless slaughter of polar bears for trophies and instead encourage their protection for future generations,’ said Marsland.
Some Chinese media have tapped into the fledgling animal rights movement among China’s pet-owning urban middle classes and yesterday slammed Mr Lupien’s hunting club.
But trophy hunting appeals to the hundreds of Chinese tycoons keen to pit themselves armed against wild animals armed with a gun.
Canada is the only country to allow international, non-native trophy hunters to kill on its soil and approximately 500 polar bears are killed each year.
Scientists claimed in 2008 between 20-25,000 remain in the wild.
But that number could be cut by two thirds by mid century if the Arctic continues to warm due to climate change, as many experts predict.
In 2008, the US government declared polar bears an endangered species and banned all American hunters from returning from Canada with their trophies.
Norway is the only country that has banned all hunting for the species, with Russia, Alaska and Greenland allowing native communities to hunt the bears as a food source.
so you have alot of money
well, good for you
but with that dinero
can’t you find something
good to do
why is it that when one
accumulates wealth
they forget about the
earth, her creatures
and her health?????
Karen Lyons Kalmenson
Our Compass 
Where and when can we contribute for some drones to take out some ugly people? Those that would kill polar bears, vivisectionists, Boener and the like. JUST KIDDING. I can dream.
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This story is fake. The hunting guide, Scott Lupien, said he told the Daily Mail he has not sold a single polar bear hunt package in China. IMHO to demonize Chinese with false accusation, even if the intent is to help the polar bears, is completely shameful.
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Mr. Wong, did you stop to consider the semantics of a highly educated individual such as Mr. Lupien, who speaks five languages, has helmed companies specializing in information technology, international energy markets and manufactures trade, real estate development, sales, and investment, securities, financial services, and global brokerage and investment, who holds a degree in economics from U.C. Berkeley, all accomplished before his current age of 43? Simply because the sale was not specifically transacted “in” China does not mean that it did not transpire. If that statement is the bedrock of your argument, that doesn’t really say much.
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Mr. Moron, Scott Lupien also stated to his knowledge not one Chinese has ever hunted polar bear (his statement is available on 52safari dot com.) Go ahead google “chartered polar bear hunt” and see the photos on these Alaskan safari operators – all white people (ok one black guy.)
Most of these big game hunters are WASP Americans. I challenge you to find one photo evidence of a Chinese looking person posing with trophy polar bear he hunted.
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Additionally, this is not a demonization of the Chinese. Lupien, as you have cited as an example, is from California. Further, the quote “Some Chinese media have tapped into the fledgling animal rights movement among China’s pet-owning urban middle classes and yesterday slammed Mr Lupien’s hunting club.” clearly identifies opposition to this practice by a growing segment of the Chinese people. Where do you find demonization there? Sounds like a weak strawman argument to me, Mr. Wong.
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Read the visceral comments, not only here, but elsewhere. They disagree with you completely. Sounds like you have no arguemnt, Mr. Moron.
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WHAT A DISGRACE TO THE WORLD THESE KILLER CHINESE SCUM ARE. JUST AS BAD ARE THE LOWLIFE SCUM WHO ALLOW THE BLOODY KILLING OF THE BEAUTIFUL WILD ANIMALS .I WISH SO BAD THAT THE CREATOR OF LIFE GIVES OUT THE RETRIBUTION THAT THEY DESERVE, I FIND IT VERY DIFFICULT TO PUT INTO WORDS EXACTLY HOW I FEEL ABOUT THE ANIMALS THAT SUFFER IN THIS CRAZY SICK EVIL GREEDY WORLD. IT GOVERNS MY LIFE IN A WAY .MY DAUGHTER TELLS ME TO THINK OF THE POSITIVE THINGS THAT HAPPEN FOR THE ANIMALS, WHICH I DO BUT HOW CAN YOU IGNORE THE SUFFERING ? WHEN THE WELFARE OF ANIMALS IS IN YOUR SOUL YOU HAVE TO GO WITH IT. I’M GLAD IM NOT THE ONLY ONE AND YOU FRIENDS UNDERSTAND AND FEEL THE SAME ! WILL KEEP FIGHTING FOR THE ANIMALS, AND I PRAY THAT IN MY LIFETIME CRUELTY WILL CEASE AND THE CHINESE WILL HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT !
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VERY WELL WRITTEN WE SHARE THE SAME VIEWS ON THESE EVIL PEOPLE.. WE DO NOT NEED THEM !
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‘Chinese Scum’!!? Absurdly ignorant reply from someone who thinks they are trying to make the world a better place.
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Especially given the fact not one Chinese has gone on polar bear hunt, according to the hunting guide Daily Mail interviewed. (Scott Lupien’s response to Peter Simpson’s distortion is on 52safari.com)
I googled “charter polar bear hunt” and found half dozen Alaska safari operators. Check their photo albums – NONE of the hunters posing with polar bears they killed are Chinese.
I challenge anyone to come up with a photo of a Chinese hunter posing with his trophy polar bear (not black bear, which is a common game animal.)
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YES AND IF THIS WERE HAPPENING IN THE UK THEY WOULD BE SCUM ! IT IS AS IT IS !!
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SHOOT ALL THESE WICKED CRUEL PEOPLE.. THE WORLD DOES NOT NEED THEIR GREED & DISPICABLE WAYS
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Brilliant solution: Let’s become killers to eliminate the killers. See any difficulty in that logic, Shireen? How about we just use methods that are actually imputable to being better human beings, e.g., signing the petition below, to apply continual pressure on the Canadian government until this practice is reined in and abolished.
Linda Badham, where do you find it constructive to blanket an entire country’s people for the doings of a miscreant few? Should the entirety of the American population be categorically stupid because of foolish statements such that are found on this page? Re-think it, please.
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you obviously do not know me, have you heard that “you can judge a nation by the way they treat their animals” ?well thats how i am, i know that there are chinese people who are really nice and respect animals but in a nut shell the country has no laws to protect animals, the leaders of China are not interested in the welfare of animals, they do the evil bile dredging from innocent bears kept in a filthy cages all their lives, they pay to have tigers killed for their parts used for medicinal purpose?, they pay to go kill polar bears, they skin cats and dogs while they are alive shall i carry on ? I DONT LIKE THE NATION the nice ones agree with people like me because they understand how we feel.
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so you have alot of money
well, good for you
but with that dinero
can’t you find something
good to do
why is it that when one
accumulates wealth
they forget about the
earth, her creatures
and her health?????
LikeLike
Petition to urge the Canadian government to prohibit killing polar bears for pure sport as well as commercial trade in polar bear products:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/553/856/036/
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Thank you, Carin, posted.
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Northern Outfitters will continue to state there is no decline in Polar Bears, Caribou etc in order to guarantee their income…they will maintain that they know far more than qualified environmental researchers. Polar Bears are drowning, their fat resrves do not allow them to swim the longer distances to find ice from which they can hunt. The Arctic ice is melting at an unbelievably fast rate, making the ability to hunt from ice packs and flows far more difficult. Polar Bears have been reported to now be eating their young.
As for the Caribou, the herds are in major decline. Hunting was actually banned in the NWT about two years ago, but limited hunting is now back.
Canadians have been trying to stop the Seal Hunt for decades, the EU banned Cdn. Seal products, but that has never stopped this Government from wasting millions of taxpayer dollars to continue promoting the slaughter.
What hope do the Polar Bears have, a species becomes extinct even as this comment is being written. A very sad statement on the human species responsible.
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HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE HUNTED DOWN WITH A BOW AND ARROW OR A GUN STOP .
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So many of the posts here are as bad as the people they seek to condemn.Linda and Shireen are two good examples. Your ignorant, verging on racist attitudes are a disgrace to the authentic sentiments of real animal lovers. The biggest slaughterers of wild and domestic animals historically, are and continue to be Europeans and North Americans, from the massacre of the North American buffalo, to seal culls, to Big Game Hunting in Africa, to the industrilalised slaughter of the modern food industry, to the massive Hunting fraternity in the States and Europe I could carry on, but I think you get my point. So if we are to judge nations by the way they treat ‘their’ animals (and those of other countries), what does that make you? So a few elite Chinese (an infintesimal minority of a nation of 1.3 billion) decide to join these barbarians and out come all your prejudices. Nothing to do with hunting I feel. A sinister Malthusian agenda at work maybe. Start directing your criticisms at home first, we don’t need anymore Brigitte Bardots in the Animal Welfare movement, thank you very much!
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I HAVE BEEN RESCUING ANIMALS FOR OVER 25 YEARS AND I’D BE PROUD TO BE LIKENED TO BRIDGIT BARDOT ( THANK YOU ). UNTIL CHINA INTRODUCES LAWS FOR ANIMALS THEN I FEEL THE SAME AND I’M NOT INTERESTED IN YOUR OPINION OF ME . SLANDER ME ALL YOU WANT TO. BUT LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING. FORGET ABOUT “COUNTRIES ” ANYBODY WHO SKINS AN ANIMAL WHILE ITS ALIVE, THROWS AN ANIMAL IN A POT OF BOILING WATER, STANDS ON AN ANIMALS NECK WHILE ITS TORTURED ALIVE, IS VILE AND EVIL WHETHER THEY ARE FROM ENGLAND , USA, AFRICA I DONT CARE THEY DON’T DESERVE TO BREATHE THE SAME AIR ! REALITY TELLS ME AND THE WORLD THAT CHINA COMMITS THESE SICK DISGUSTING ACTIONS , SO OFFEND YOU OR NOT , I TELL LIKE IT IS . WHEN THERES OTHER TYPES OF CRUELTY I CAMPAIGN AGAINST THAT COUNTRY ASWELL. END OF !!!!!
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Shireen and Linda are not racist, they are anti-speciesist, and you don’t have to question for whom they fight: the animals. Like I wrote below, plenty of cruelty goes on around the world, and I have seen the Americans, Italians, Germans, Canadians, Japanese, Australians, etc., condemned and not one person cried foul then. I’m tired of Mr. Wong’s belligerent and enabling attitude. I bet he never did anything for an animal his entire life, yet here he is, wasting precious time playing child games and calling names. Grow up and grow a pair and realize who the victims are.
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Have you read Nine Shocking Fur Facts? That’s just the tip of a horrific iceberg: https://our-compass.org/2012/03/10/nine-shocking-fur-facts/
I’m not about to entertain a pissing contest, but it is somewhat more than than “an infintesimal minority” (sic).
As I have said twice now, I know cruelty occurs everywhere, but nobody cried foul when the Americans, Italians, Japanese, Australians, Germans, etc., were condemned.
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There are no racists here, only anti-speciesists. I’ve seen people condemn Americans, Canadians, British, Australians, Japanese, and Germans, just to name a few, yet nobody came in on an elitist pedestal to support the nationality in question. Where was everybody then?
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THANK YOU STACY
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Thank you, Linda. 🙂
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Linda you are a very ignorant person. China has animal welfare laws.
By comparison the industrialized factory farming and cruelty we in the West invented is far worse than anything the Chinese do, both in scale and severity.
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AND YOU THINK I DONT SAY ANYTHING ABOUT THAT ???????????????? WHATS THIS ANTI LINDA WEEK ????
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You are led by the lies of our mass media. There are no rich Chinese hunting polar bears, only rich White people. Scour Google images for polar bear hunt, show me one picture of a Chinese hunter posing with dead polar bear.
Here’s the tour guide’s reply:
52safari.com/article-222-1.html
The reporter ignore the fact not one polar bear hunt package has been sold in China.
You are ignorant, learn some facts about this fabricated story.
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Stacy, you want to talk about real victims – it is the 1.2 billion Chinese who can not defend themselves from lies like this. Read Scott Lupien’s repsonse to Daily Mail’s fabrication and distortion:
52safari.com/article-222-1.html
“I told [Peter Simpson of Daily Mail] that I have never been on a polar bear hunt, and to my knowledge, neither has a single Chinese person.
…
In order to sell papers and make big profits, [Daily Mail] created a story about something that doesn’t even exist (Chinese hunting polar bears)”
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What a firestorm, Stacey. Good for you!!! I call it as I see it as well…Koodos to you. Keep up the excellent work!!!
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Thank you, Zephr.
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I would like to chase people down in a car all the while dodging my bullets. Teach them a lesson! Stop this!
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Honkies need to do some basic research. The CEO of that hunting club, the American W. Scott Lupien, denied the allegations in the article. He said he has never been on a polar bear hunt, never heard of a Chinese person going on one, and that no Chinese person ever showed interest in polar bear hunting. Look at the club’s site
http://www.52safari.com/article-222-1.html
I would love to one day go honkey hunting and exterminate these racist bastards.
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I hope that next time – the polar bear wins!! And the hunter becomes a trophy in the form of a good meal.
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Save the Polar bear !!!
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