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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has decided to stop pushing for an international ban on the trade in polar bear parts -- an effort that has been strenuously opposed by Inuit and the Canadian government. The U.S. agency has been trying for years to have skins and other parts put in the same category as elephant ivory. It sponsored votes at the last two meetings of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species that would have prevented Inuit hunters from selling hides or teeth even after eating the meat. Late last week, the service quietly dropped its campaign. "Though we remain concerned about the commercial use of polar bear hides as an additional threat to the species, we are not pursuing increased ... protections at this time," says a statement on the service's website. "We are putting our resources into working in collaboration with other polar bear range states to address climate change and mitigate its impacts on the polar bear as the overwhelming threat to the long-term future of the species." RELATED STORIES