Animals, Bizarre, Environment, International, Torts

Missing The Bear Essentials? American Hunter Denies Story On Chinese Polar Bear Hunts

Scott Lupien insists that he is the ultimate conservationist. According to the article below, Lupien, an American fluent in Chinese, takes wealthy Chinese to Canada where they can see magnificent Polar bears up close . . . and kill them and turn them into rugs. The , Lupien is a professional hunter who is “teaching the Chinese about conservation” by leading trips to shoot down male polar bears. He insists that his customers respect nature: “Each hunter is allowed to kill one male only. We then turn them into rugs.” On his website, however, Lupien says that the story is false raising an interesting question of potential defamation.

Lupien’s website has pictures of a variety of dead large animals, but notably not a polar bear. He posted the following statement:

On March 5th, 2012 I received a phone call from a Daily Mail reporter calling himself Peter. He chatted me up, calling himself a fellow “sportsman” to earn my trust, and wanted to know about my polar bear hunts. I told him that I have never been on a polar bear hunt, and to my knowledge, neither has a single Chinese person. Nevertheless, he wanted to know more and I discussed polar bear hunting in general with him — specifically the history, ecology and management of polar bear hunting.

While he insists that he never discussed “Smuggling rugs” it is not clear if he denies this statement: “Each hunter is allowed to kill one male only. We then turn them into rugs.”

On his site, the owner of “I Love Hunting” (which does cater to wealthy Chinese) does argue for hunting polar bears and contests views that they are endangered:

labeling polar bears as “endangered” is another example of misrepresentation of the facts, unethical reporting and pure bias. A quick study of the most recent listing by IUCN will inform anyone who wants to know the true listing status of the polar bear that it is currently listed as “Vulnerable,” not “Endangered.” Furthermore, the reason for this listing (as opposed to a status of lower concern) is based purely on speculation based on models of what might happen. . . .
In other words, eight years ago they decided, based on climate models at that time, that polar sea ice might shrink, thus potentially leading to a reduction in polar bear numbers. This is speculation and such predictions have not come true in the eight years since this listing.

Mr Lupien’s website, 52safari.com, does remind one of that scene out of Ace Ventura (yes, I have four children under 13) where the pet detective finds himself in a room filled with dead wild animals.

Lupien’s site shows a variety of large game from black bears to lions to elephants that can be shot by wealthy Chinese.

The newspaper article says that an advert also features polar bears, stating “Their weight can reach one ton, and they can grow to more than three meters in length. The huge male bear specimens are the most majestic, most beautiful of hunting prizes!”

The article also quotes Lupien as saying “If you believe the ice caps are melting as some claim, these bears are going to die anyway, so you may as well hunt them.”

Lupien’s allegation that the story is false leads to an interesting defamation lawsuit. Lupien clearly does support hunting polar bears, so the article does not attribute a false position — only a false fact. The question is how it would harm his reputation. Indeed, it may be a situation like the one discussed by the Seventh Circuit in Wilkow v. Forbes, 241 F. 3d 552 (7th Cir. 2001). In the case, an attorney sued for defamation after a Forbes magazine article discussed his work in a bankruptcy case and an exception to the absolute priority rule. The article characterized his arguments as helping “unscrupulous business owners to rob creditors.” Notably, however, Judge Frank Easterbrook not only found the article to be opinion but said that the account of Wilkow’s practice might actually bring business to him:

Although a reader might arch an eyebrow at Wilkow’s strategy, an allegation of greed is not defamatory; sedulous pursuit of self-interest is the engine that propels a market economy. Capitalism certainly does not depend on sharp practices, but neither is an allegation of sharp dealing anything more than an uncharitable opinion. Illinois does not attach damages to name-calling. See Stevens, 855 F.2d at 400-02 (collecting cases, including examples such as “sleazy” and “rip-off”). Wilkow’s current and potential partners would have read this article as an endorsement of Wilkow’s strategy; they want to invest with a general partner who drives the hardest possible bargain with lenders. By observing that Wilkow used every opening the courts allowed, Forbes may well have improved his standing with investors looking for real estate tax shelters (though surely it did not help his standing with lenders). No matter the net effect of the article, however, it was not defamatory under Illinois law, so the judgment of the district court is

Lupien may indeed find that the outcry against his business will produce a positive response with some wealthy Chinese.

Putting this aside, there is a major question that the Daily Mail should answer. He is denying that he does these hunts. That would be a significant error in its reporting if it is true. Presumably, this reporter has notes and a basis for the article, which the paper should make clear to answer this charge.

Source: Daily Mail

49 thoughts on “Missing The Bear Essentials? American Hunter Denies Story On Chinese Polar Bear Hunts”

  2. Dredd,
    Haven’t followed this well as Battyman tires me.
    His stolen slogans don’t give any knowledge.

    BUT your NASA stuff on satellite ice differentiation was GREAT.
    Thanks,

  3. Bdaman 1, March 7, 2012 at 7:18 am

    Polar Bear numbers are increasing.
    ==================================
    They must be increasing themselves out of existence eh?:

    Polar bears could be extinct by 2050 as their habitat melts away due to climate change. The loss of snow pack, thinning and disappearing sea ice all reduce essential habitat. Loss of sea ice leads to higher energy requirements to locate prey and a shortage of food.

    Polar bear survival is entirely dependant on sea ice as a platform for hunting the marine mammals that provide their nutritional needs. Polar bears stalk the seals using their breathing holes in the ice, as the total ice diminishes it will vastly decrease successful hunts and their overall food source. Though polar bears are excellent swimmers they are not adept at catching seals in open water.

    (Defenders). The fact that the ice they need is disappearing is uncontested in honest circles:

    The Canadian Coast Guard has confirmed that in a major first, a commercial ship travelled through the Northwest Passage this fall to deliver supplies to communities in western Nunavut.

    The MV Camilla Desgagnés, owned by Desgagnés Transarctik Inc., transported cargo from Montreal to the hamlets of Cambridge Bay, Kugluktuk, Gjoa Haven and Taloyoak in September.

    “We did have a commercial cargo vessel that did the first scheduled run from Montreal, up through the eastern Arctic, through the Northwest Passage to deliver cargo to communities in the west,” Brian LeBlanc of the Canadian Coast Guard told CBC News.

    “That was the first — that I’m aware of anyway — commercial cargo delivery from the east through the Northwest Passage.”
    …
    “They were ready to be there for us if we called them, but I didn’t see one cube of ice,” he said.

    “They were informed about our presence [and] they were ready to give us the support needed. However, since there was no ice whatsoever, the service was not needed, we didn’t call for it.”

    (CBC News, emphasis added). Again, that is why the hunter was potentially defamed, he was in effect called a criminal when they said he was hunting endangered species – polar bears.

  4. Bdaman 1, March 7, 2012 at 10:27 am

    Dredd who cares facts are facts and the fact is there has been no warming for the last fifteen years despite an increase in atmospheric CO2.
    ====================================================
    Psychopaths are the only ones who do not care about catastrophe so long as they can convince themselves that they will not be involved in the said catastrophe.

    But they will be, so they must resort to the hoax of denial:

    A new NASA study revealed that the oldest and thickest Arctic sea ice is disappearing at a faster rate than the younger and thinner ice at the edges of the Arctic Ocean’s floating ice cap.

    …

    Multi-year sea ice hit its record minimum extent in the winter of 2008. That is when it was reduced to about 55 percent of its average extent since the late 1970s, when satellite measurements of the ice cap began. Multi-year sea ice then recovered slightly in the three following years, ultimately reaching an extent 34 percent larger than in 2008, but it dipped again in winter of 2012, to its second lowest extent ever.

    For this study, Comiso created a time series of multi-year ice using 32 years of passive microwave data from NASA’s Nimbus-7 satellite and the U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense Meteorological Satellite Program, taken during the winter months from 1978 to 2011. This is the most robust and longest satellite dataset of Arctic sea ice extent data to date, Comiso said.

    …

    Younger ice, made from recently frozen ocean waters, is saltier than multi-year ice, which has had more time to drain its salts. The salt content in first- and second-year ice gives them different electrical properties than multi-year ice: In winter, when the surface of the sea ice is cold and dry, the microwave emissivity of multiyear ice is distinctly different from that of first- and second-year ice. Microwave radiometers on satellites pick up these differences in emissivity, which are observed as variations in brightness temperature for the different types of ice. The “brightness” data are used in an algorithm to discriminate multiyear ice from other types of ice.

    Comiso compared the evolution of the extent and area of multi-year ice over time, and confirmed that its decline has accelerated during the last decade, in part because of the dramatic decreases of 2008 and 2012.

    (NASA, 2/29/12). The ice the bears use includes the summer ice, not just the perennial ice.

    That is why the bears are endangered, and why the hunter who was purportedly defamed does not want to be associated with hunting them illegally.

  5. Dredd who cares facts are facts and the fact is there has been no warming for the last fifteen years despite an increase in atmospheric CO2.

  6. Bdaman 1, March 7, 2012 at 8:42 am

    There are three types of arctic ice: 1) over land, 2) temporary sea ice over water, and 3) permanent sea ice over water.

    Permanent sea ice over water? I thought the Arctic was to be ice free by now according to Gore and others.

    “As type one melts and flows to the sea the sea level rises, but as type three turns into type two, the sea level is not affected.

    The “permanent” ice cover (ice that stays ice even in summer) is decreasing and converting into winter ice that melts in the summer (no longer year-round ice)”

    What a bunch of hooey Dredd. Sea level has not risen in 3 years but has decreased. The current rate of rise is 3.2mm per year. How long will it take the ocean to rise 5 feet ? 10 feet ? 20 feet and compare the estimates to what the alarmist say and when.
    =======================================
    “Knowledge” in this arena is actually “belief”, that is, we believe in what someone else says they know because we don’t do the research ourselves. We don’t have personal expert knowledge.

    Thus, discernment is a matter of Epistemology in such a case, as well as being a matter of Agnotology.

    My link up-thread, to a noted historian who specializes in scientific history, shows there has been a consensus for decades, supporting exactly what I said.

    The hoax that has hooked you is of recent vintage, by comparison, as noted by that well-known history.

    You really should watch the video because a lot of republicans are featured, as well as other parties, before and after the hoax that hooked you ever started.

  7. Banass – what would be the point – you came equipped with your own set of “facts” and reality is not going to seep into your . . . well, lets agree to call it a brain despite the evidence.

    That you felt the need to highjack a thread on a tangent indicates how desperate you are for attention and so debating you would be like wrestling a pig in the mud. I’d get tired & dirty & you would get off on it.

  8. Isn’t the Daily Mail a Murdoch tabloid? I don’t know that I’d trust a Murdoch tabloid. But then, if it’s a Murdoch tabloid they probably hacked Lupien’s e-mails and tapped his phone to flesh out the story so… what a dilemma, what to believe.

  10. since Banass has highjacked this thread with kilotons of stupidity its time to let it go.

  12. There are three types of arctic ice: 1) over land, 2) temporary sea ice over water, and 3) permanent sea ice over water.

    Permanent sea ice over water? I thought the Arctic was to be ice free by now according to Gore and others.

    “As type one melts and flows to the sea the sea level rises, but as type three turns into type two, the sea level is not affected.

    The “permanent” ice cover (ice that stays ice even in summer) is decreasing and converting into winter ice that melts in the summer (no longer year-round ice)”

    What a bunch of hooey Dredd. Sea level has not risen in 3 years but has decreased. The current rate of rise is 3.2mm per year. How long will it take the ocean to rise 5 feet ? 10 feet ? 20 feet and compare the estimates to what the alarmist say and when.

  13. There are three types of arctic ice: 1) over land, 2) temporary sea ice over water, and 3) permanent sea ice over water.

    As type one melts and flows to the sea the sea level rises, but as type three turns into type two, the sea level is not affected.

    The “permanent” ice cover (ice that stays ice even in summer) is decreasing and converting into winter ice that melts in the summer (no longer year-round ice).

    The hoax that global warming induced climate change is a hoax began in the 1980’s following a scientific and political consensus.

    An environmental protection treaty was signed by the major industrial nations, including the U.S.A.

    The denier hoax was started by The Marshall Institute, after they lost their battle to deny that cancer and cigarette smoking were related.

    The tobacco industry unhired them so the oil barons hired them.

    They used the same manuals they used in their cigarette lobbying.

    Now The Heartland Institute has taken over the propaganda mission, funded by psychopathic oil barons.

    The summer ice melt, the diminishing of the year-round ice, is what has endangered the polar bear.

    That is why Scott Lupien mentioned ice melting being a reason to kill the bears, because they are all going to die anyway without the ice.

    Lecture confirming the above by a university professor is here.

  15. But this is how they convince you global warming is real.

    Here, just south of the Arctic Circle, where the sea ice is vanishing like dew on a July morning, the temperature isn’t the only thing that’s heating up.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/environment/warming-arctic-opens-way-to-competition-for-resources/2011/05/15/AF2W2Q4G_story.html

    But when you go to confirm it this is what you see.

    http://nsidc.org/data/seaice_index/images/daily_images/N_daily_extent_hires.png

  17. Aiders and abettors of extinction are hardly conservationists. Even a fifth grader knows that, but electoral power has been taken from the people. The candidates say they will adopt a sane environmental policy, then go drill baby drill crazy upon election.

    Which means that even turning to the judiciary, which is in general, moving quickly to the right along with the herd.

    Thus, defamation is not something the polar bears or their hunters will dwell on over the long run.

    Once their mind expands to realize that hunting and killing the environment is suicidal, things will change that way.

    Either way change is coming on fast.

  18. FACT: Artic Sea Ice is nearly back to within one standard deviation of the 30 year normal.

  19. Polar Bear numbers are increasing.

    “eight years ago they decided, based on climate models at that time, that polar sea ice might shrink, thus potentially leading to a reduction in polar bear numbers. This is speculation and such predictions have not come true in the eight years since this listing.”

    This is true for everything. They told us by increasing atmospheric CO2 everything bad would be made worse and it’s simply not the case. The FACTUAL DATA is there you just have to look at it. The whole climate change/man made global warming hoax is coming to an end. Why? because the actual factual data proves it so.

Comments are closed.