WASHINGTON — Until they were classified as a threatened species
in the United States three years ago, a Canadian polar bear was
the ultimate trophy for many elite American sport hunters. Led
by Inuit guides, hunters traveled for days by dog sled to the
far northern reaches of iced-over Nunavut and the Northwest
Territories. They endured temperatures so far below zero that
they had to cover all exposed skin. And they paid dearly for it:
Each trip cost $40,000 to $60,000, and few hunters were
satisfied until they brought home bears. Today, the rare
trophies from those hunts — generally a skin and claws, along
with the skull and the penis bone, known as an "oosik" in the
Native language — are in a legal limbo that stretches from the
Arctic Circle to the Canadian capital in Ottawa to the halls of
the U.S. Congress. The Endangered Species Act prohibits
importing animals that are listed as endangered or threatened.
As a result, sport-hunted polar bear trophies from Canada can't
be imported, the government argues, e