Budte Zhuvu Medved: A Russian Toast to Saving Polar Bears

I salute my country and its leadership for once again making me proud. If we can now persuade others to follow the Russian example - we may just be able to save this remarkable animal.

Sometimes I am especially proud to be a Russian and this is one of those times.

I have been working to protect wildlife in Russia for more than 20 years and the International Fund for Animal Welfare has worked closely with the Russian Government in identifying issues of conservation concern.

In the past few years, I have been delighted to see Russia emerging as a world leader in conserving endangered species and eliminating cruel and unnecessary threats to wild animals.

We have seen a ban on the killing of seal pups less than a year old, the hosting of the International Tiger Summit to protect and save wild tigers, and the banning of the winter Brown bear den hunt.

This week, Prime Minister Putin again stole the conservation spotlight by waiving the Russian polar bear hunting quota.

This means there will be no Russian government sanctioned hunting of polar bears for any reason in Russia (one of only five countries with polar bear populations - the others being Canada, USA, Norway and Greenland).

Polar bears need our help. Climate change is destroying their ice habitat at an extraordinary rate. Some experts have predicted that polar bear populations may decline by two-thirds by 2050.

In the face of such a drastic threat we can and must do everything we can to save them. And stopping the legally sanctioned hunting of polar bears is one thing that is completely in our power.

I salute my country and its leadership for once again making me proud. If we can now persuade others to follow the Russian example - we may just be able to save this remarkable animal.

Budte zhuvu medve!

-- MV