OTTAWA - A selection of quick facts about the polar bear and the international trade in its skins and carcasses.
The polar bear, or Ursus maritimus, is a circumpolar species found in Canada, Alaska, Greenland, Norway and Russia.
The bear, the world's largest land carnivore, is listed as a species of special concern by Canada.
Canada allows a trade in polar bear skins and carcasses, although the bears are not part of any commercial hunt.
From 2007 to 2011, Canada exported an average of 313 polar bears annually, with 344 exported in 2011.
Environment Canada says this trade involves about two per cent of Canada's polar bear population, which was estimated at 16,000 bears in 2011.
Between 1992 and 2011, the largest number of skins or carcasses exported in any single year was 425 in 1997.
China accounted for about 75 per cent of the polar bear skins exported in 2013, with about 21 per cent going to the European union.
Canada is the only country that permits a legal commercial trade in polar bears.