It seems that 235 polar bear hides failed to be sold at auction in Ontario. These items are now safely kept at Nunavut’s Environment Department, arriving from the South, where they were in storage at an auction house in North Bay for years.
Wildlife operations director Jon Neely says that, although these hides may not look brand, they are in fact in good condition.
Neely added:
“It’s not that they’re bad bears, it’s just the quality that international buyers are looking for tends to be top of the line.”
The territory will allow the hunters to get their hides back. Each hunter who has sent a hide to the auction will have one week to take it back. The department anticipates only 10 percent of harvesters will aspire to compensate an advance made on the furs back when they were worth more.
That advance could have been up to $3,000, but now, it seems that the finest of these hides will be sold for these bear hides will only be sold for only $1,000.
Neely stated:
“We’re not having them tanned to up the price. We want to sell them in the state that they’re in.”
The Environment Department is collaborating with the Department of Economic Development on how to sell and donate these hides. Some hides will go to non-profits, while others will be put on sale.
