Witnessing Extinction

Study Shows Polar Bears Are in Serious Trouble, Marine Conservationist Says
Warmer temperatures and earlier melting of sea ice are causing polar bears to go hungry. The number of undernourished bears has tripled.
more HERE
Polar Bears International website HERE

Polar Bear Policy Persists

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced that he will retain the Bush administration's controversial rule on polar bear protections, rejecting special authority given to him by Congress and the pleas of Democratic lawmakers, environmentalists and scientists to overturn the regulation.
Interior will now be forced to defend the rule in court. Environmental groups that sued to overturn the rule said today that they plan to press their lawsuit.
Some environmental groups see the polar bear listing as their best opportunity to force the government to consider harm from greenhouse gases and regulate emissions. Even though the Obama administration has pledged to address climate change, Salazar said today that such action should not come through the Endangered Species Act -- the same position taken by the Bush administration.
New York Times report HERE
want to join efforts to help polar bears? go HERE

Ice Ice Baby

The rich life of Svalbard, Norway’s Arctic archipelago, faces a creeping thaw.
Arctic sea ice is shrinking as temperatures rise. In 2007 and 2008 sea ice dipped to the lowest extent on record.
National Geographic story HERE

and then he ate my friends...

Iceland Declares War on Polar Bears

Sarah Palin and Iceland have something in common...both are willing to kill innocent creatures whose habitat is disappearing...seems what's really become extinct is humanitarianism.
An Icelandic commission has recommended that any polar bears that manage to reach the island nation from Greenland should be shot because it’s too expensive to ship the dangerous animals back to their natural habitat or to zoos.
The commission was appointed last summer after two of the bears were shot dead. They had apparently managed to swim up to 200 miles after ice floes that carried them part of the way from Greenland melted beneath their feet. Polar bear sightings had been rare in Iceland until this past June.
The killings sparked outrage from conservation groups that blamed authorities for not keeping the bears isolated until they could be safely relocated.
The arrival of two bears with a two-week period could lend credence to warnings that global warming is now melting the bears’ habitats.
more HERE

Faster, Sarah, Kill! Kill!

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin poses with things she has personally killed; if she hasn't killed it yet, she wants to.

She favors the shooting of wolves from airplanes--a real hoot. Last year, she instituted a $150 per head bounty on wolves.
Her favorite food is moose that she killed herself. She enjoys killing and eating animals so much she showed her daughter how to kill a caribou
She's also sued the Interior Department for putting polar bears on the endangered species list. more HERE
Perfect choice for McSame.
more HERE and HERE

Polar Bears Seen Swimming For Their Lives

An aerial survey off the northwest coast of Alaska in mid-August found at least nine polar bears swimming in open waters, with one foundering at least 60 miles from shore.
The discovery came just before U.S. scientists announced that Arctic sea ice has shrunk to its second-lowest coverage on record.
“To find so many polar bears at sea at one time is extremely worrisome because it could be an indication that as the sea ice on which they live and hunt continues to melt, many more bears may be out there facing similar risk,” said Geoff York, polar bear coordinator for the World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) Arctic program.
more HERE

...we feel helpless

The Perilous Predicament of the Polar Bear

Assuming the position

WASHINGTON D.C. — Less than a month after declaring polar bears a threatened species because of global warming, the Bush administration is giving oil companies permission to annoy and potentially harm them in the pursuit of oil and natural gas.
story is HERE
Timeline of recent actions concerning polar bears HERE

the Polar Bear Shot heard 'round the world

The first polar bear to swim to Iceland in 15 years has been shot dead by police.
The bear was spotted nonchalantly strolling along a road near the town of Skagafjördur yesterday morning.
The chief police officer of a neighboring town, took the decision to shoot it dead.
the story is HERE

Alaska unsympathetic towards Polar Bears

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The state of Alaska will sue the U.S. government to stop the listing of the polar bear as a threatened species, arguing the designation will slow development in the state, Governor Sarah Palin said on Wednesday.
Reuters article HERE

Climate Change Victim: Ribbon Seal

Like the polar bear, the ribbon seal may be on thin ice.
The National Marine Fisheries Service began a formal review of the species this week, after environmental groups petitioned to include the seal with zebra-like markings on the Endangered Species list.
As with the polar bear, the ribbon seal's plight is tied to the fate of the Arctic, particularly sea ice that in the summer of 2007 decreased to record-low levels.
more HERE