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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 Story Is
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
Here
Are Some Follow
Up Stories
Three Groups To Sue Feds Over Polar Bear's Status
ANCHORAGE, ALASKA
-Three conservation groups notified the federal government that they
intend to sue to get polar bears listed as a threatened species due to
global warming.
The formal notice filed by the Center for Biological Diversity,
the Natural Resources Defense Council and Greenpeace is a step before a
lawsuit is filed. The notice cited a missed deadline by the federal
agencies on whether polar bears will be listed.
Information
Source: – Wire services – (Found in The Arizona Rebublic newspaper).
Date unknown.
Major
Polar-Bear Habitat To Open To Oil Exploration
WASHINGTON
-A decision on whether to protect Alaska's polar bears under the
Endangered Species Act might not come before the government opens a
major bear habitat to oil leases next week, although staff
recommendations are completed, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service chief
said.
Another Interior Department agency, the Minerals Management
Services, plans to open a large area of the Chukchi Sea to oil and gas
leases. The Chukchi Sea is home to one of two U.S. polar-bear
populations.
Information
Source: – Wire services – (Found in The Arizona Rebublic newspaper).
Date unknown.
