An arctic fox explores fresh snow. David Ponton/Design Pics/Newscom/File
Musk oxen stand with a pair of newborn calves on the central Arctic coastal plain on the north slope of the Brooks Range in Alaska. Steven J. Kazlowksi/Newscom/File
A caribou cow runs with newborn calves in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Steven J. Kazlowski/Newscom/File
Arctic hares rest in Ellesmere Island, Canada. Newscom/File
A polar bear mother leads her young cubs in Wapusk National Park, Canada. Solent News/Splash News/Newscom/File
An arctic ground squirrel peers over the top of a shrub in Denali National Park, Alaska. Steven J. Kazlowski/Newscom/File
An arctic wolf rests in a snowy enclosure at the Berlin zoo. Patrick Pleul/Newscom/File
The stoat or ermine is also known as the shorttail weasel. Newscom/File
A snowy owl sits on a branch in the zoological garden of Bernburg, Germany. Jens Wolf/Newscom/File
A beluga whale swims in the Russian arctic's White Sea. Andrey Nekasov/VWPICS/Newscom/File
The World Wildlife Fund and the International Union for Conservation of Nature Species opposed the US proposal to prohibit global trade in polar bear body parts, and attributed the marked decline in the animal's population to loss of sea ice habitat due to climate change.
Proposals to ban trade in polar bear furs will do little to ensure the animals' long-term future, Canada's Arctic Inuit and two major conservationist groups both say.
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