|
Action
Bear
Action
Bear © Bert E. Kavich
Productions. All Rights Reserved
I Action Bear Will
Report
To You On The Latest News
Stories, Articles And Information Pertaining To Endangered Animals,
Animal Rights And Actions Which May Be Taken To Protect And Help Our
Friends Of The Wilderness.
This Months Stories Are
Polar Bears Could Die Out By 2050
WASHINGTON -
Two-thirds of the world's polar bears will be killed off
by 2050 — and the entire population gone from Alaska — because of
thinning sea ice from global warming in the Arctic, government
scientists forecast Friday.
Only in the
northern
Canadian Arctic islands and the west coast of
Greenland are any of the world's 16,000 polar bears expected to survive
through the end of the century, said the U.S. Geological Survey, which
is the scientific arm of the Interior Department.
USGS
projects that polar bears during the next half-century will
disappear along the north coasts of Alaska and Russia and lose 42
percent of the Arctic range they need to live in during summer in the
Polar Basin when they hunt and breed. A polar bear's life usually lasts
about 30 years.
"Projected
changes in future sea ice conditions, if realized, will
result in loss of approximately two-thirds of the world's current polar
bear population by the mid 21st century," the report says.
Polar
bears depend on sea ice as a platform for hunting seals, which is
their primary food. They rarely catch seals on land or in open water.
Because the general decline of Arctic sea ice appears to be
underestimated, scientists said their forecast of how much polar bear
populations will shrink also may be on the low side.
"There is
a definite link between changes in the sea ice and the
welfare of polar bears," said USGS scientist Steven Amstrup, the lead
author of the new studies. "As the sea ice goes, so goes the polar
bear."
Amstrup
said 84 percent of the scientific variables affecting the polar bear's
fate was tied to changes in sea ice.
As of
this week, the extent of Arctic sea ice had fallen to 4.75
million square miles — or 250,000 square miles below the previous
record low of 5.05 million square miles in September 2005, according to
the National Snow and Ice Data Center.
No
hope for quick change
Scientists do
not
hold out much hope that the buildup of carbon dioxide and other
industrial gases blamed for heating the atmosphere like a greenhouse
can be turned around in time to help the polar bears anytime soon.
Polar
bears have walked the planet for at least 40,000 years.
"In spite
of any mitigation of greenhouse gases,
we are going to see the same amount of energy in the system for at
least 20, 30, 40 years," Mark Myers, the USGS director, said.
Greenland
and Norway have the most polar
bears, while a quarter of them live mainly in Alaska and travel to
Canada and Russia. The agency says their range will shrink to no longer
include Alaska and other southern regions.The
findings of U.S. and Canadian scientists are based on six months of new
studies, during which the health of three polar bear groups and their
dependency on Arctic sea ice were examined using "new and traditional
models," Myers said.
Information
Source: Associated Press (Author Unknown) Sept. 8, 2007
Grizzly Bears Thriving In Montana
WASHINGTON -The
majestic grizzly bear, once king of the Western wilderness but
threatened with extinction for a third of a century, has roared back in
Montana.
The finding, from a $4.8 million, five-year study of
grizzly DNA once mocked by Republican presidential candidate John
McCain as pork-barrel spending, could help ease restrictions on oil and
gas drilling, logging and other development.
Researchers with the U.S. Geological Survey announced
Tuesday Sept. 16, 2008 that there are approximately 765 bears in
northwestern Montana. That's the largest population of grizzlies
documented there in more than 30 years and a sign that the species
could be at long last recovering.
The first-ever scientific census shattered earlier
estimates that said there were at least 250 to 350 bears roaming an 8
million-acre area stretching from north of Missoula to the Canadian
border.
Information
Source: Associated Press (Author Unknown) Sept. 17, 2008
Bald-Eagle
Protection Extended
Arizona
bald eagles won another round Friday August 29, 2008 toward maintaining
their Endangered Species Act protection.
In U.S. District Court in Phoenix, Judge Mary Murguia
granted a motion filed by Indian tribes and the Center for Biological
Diversity to extend bald-eagle protection through Oct. 12, 2009. The
motion is related to a lawsuit seeking to have Arizona eagles protected
separately as a distinct population.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in July 2007 ended the
endangered-status protection for all bald eagles in the contiguous
states.
Murgiua's order gives tribes more time to confirm the
number of eagles that existed in Arizona before development. The tribes
believe findings will show there were more eagles in Arizona
historically than acknowledged by Fish and Wildlife.
Tribal leaders have embraced the ruling.
"That was a very fair decision," said John Lewis, director
of the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona and a member of the Colorado
River Indian Tribes. "The tribes have demonstrated there was a need for
adequate consultation that didn't take place, and also a need for ...
putting out the tribal perspective on the issue."
The action follows Murguia's March decision calling for a
new assessment of the eagles, which number fewer than 50 breeding
pairs. At that time, she ordered Fish and Wildlife to maintain the
birds' endangered-status protection and perform a status review with
input from the tribes. Her Dec. 5 deadline for a decision on the
endangered-status question has been postponed until October.
Conservation groups and biologists, including the Arizona
Game and Fish Department, which manages the state bald-eagle program,
have already submitted scientific documents to Fish and Wildlife.
In an effort led by the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian
Community, the tribes are preparing to submit historical, biological
and cultural information rarely shared with non-Indians.
Gov. Janet Napolitano supported the motion to extend the
court deadline, as did U.S. Fish and Wildlife.
"We are in support of as much tribal coordination as we
can do," said Arizona field supervisor Steve Spangle.
Information
Source: – Above article written by Kate Nolan for The Arizona Republic
newspaper. Saturday, August 30, 2008 issue.
You May E-Mail Me At
Could You Please Be So
Kind As To Sign My Guest Book Below ?
"Have A Super Day"
"Yours Sincerely"
Action Bear
|
|
