I watched a National Geographic thing about them last night. Laying aside the pompous desire to refer to them as 'ice bears' rather than polar bears, it was a good programme.

I was just reading about them on Wiki:

"About 60% of the world's polar bears live in Canada.[7] Conservation laws are a provincial jurisdiction. Hunting quotas and restrictions relating to Indian status are in effect, but vary by province. About 500 bears are killed per year by humans across Canada,[54] a quantity believed to be unsustainable by scientists."

Sadface. What is it with those Canucks and killing animals? Jeez...

But seriously. 500! That's a lot of polar bears.

I also note that the taxidermy shop on Essex Road now has a big polar bear in the window. As if this shop didn't depress me enough. Here's a photo for those who don't know it:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/theogb/2036578419/