How To Spare Polar Bears The Bullet

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Polar bears are in trouble from global warming, melting ice, and toxins in the marine foodweb. Do they really need to be hunted too? No, says the Humane Society of the United States, Defenders of Wildlife, and the International Fund for Animal Welfare. The three groups have called on the Senate to act on bipartisan legislation to close a loophole in the Marine Mammal Protection Act. This loophole currently allows wealthy American trophy hunters to bring the heads and hides of hundreds of imperiled polar bears into the United States from the Canadian Arctic.

The legislation, S. 1406, to close the loophole in the law was introduced by U.S. Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), and by U.S. Reps. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) and Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.) as H.R. 2327 in the House of Representatives.

“The polar bear has become a tragic symbol of our threatened environment, and of the wildlife that pays the price for dangerous practices,” Sen. Kerry said. “It’s time to put the polar bear on the Endangered Species List, and give them a fighting chance at survival. But it also means that we must close the loophole that allows for trophy hunting by U.S. sport hunters in Canada. Not only must these bears contend with their home melting away, but they are also being hunted in the limited habitat they have left. It’s time to take responsibility for their survival. We need to pick up the pieces and change our practices, before it’s too late.”

HSUS asks those who agree with this legislation to contact their reps in DC & urge them to close the loophole. –JULIA WHITTY

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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