Note: Since I'm getting a lot of queries about this photo ... I don't own copyright for the photo and don't have the contact information for the source of the picture. I got the photo off the web and neglected to note the source. Googling "polar bear" should result in the original, but that may mean you have to browse many pages before you find it. Good luck!
The Washington Post is reporting that the Bush Administration wants to list polar bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act,
"We've reviewed all the available data that leads us to believe the sea ice the polar bear depends on has been receding," said the Interior official, adding that U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials have concluded that polar bears could be endangered within 45 years. "Obviously, the sea ice is melting because the temperatures are warmer."
Northern latitudes are warming twice as rapidly as the rest of globe, according to a 2004 scientific assessment, and by the end of the century, annual ocean temperatures in the Artic may rise an additional 13 degrees Fahrenheit. As a result, researchers predict that summer sea ice, which polar bears use as a platform to hunt for ringed seals, will decline 50 to 100 percent. Just this month, researchers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research outlined a worst-case scenario in which summer sea ice could disappear by 2040.
Comments
If this is being pushed by the Bush administration, could this be a prelude to a major policy change on GW?
Posted by: bigTom | December 27, 2006 12:27 PM
" If this is being pushed by the Bush administration, could this be a prelude to a major policy change on GW?"
Nope. It is a prelude to a major assault on the Endangered Species Act.
Posted by: Oscar Zoalaster | December 27, 2006 3:45 PM
Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice =P
Posted by: Someone o.0 | May 10, 2007 9:20 PM
oo
Posted by: ANGELA | July 2, 2007 6:14 PM
I would like to say that I do not accept people hunting polar bears or the case that we are making it difficult for them to survive. I want all this to stop now. I studied them when I was in first grade and they mean a lot to me. So whoever hunting polar bears or making it hard for them to survive stop! And I mean it!
Posted by: Becky | July 11, 2007 9:28 PM
It is not nice to hunt polar bears. And we are the ones who are causing Global Warming!
Posted by: Becky | July 12, 2007 7:34 PM
so cute
Posted by: amari | March 2, 2008 3:03 PM
polar bears
are the swetest bears ever and i love them we need to do something about global warming so that we can save them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: m&m | May 1, 2008 11:53 AM
Acually polar bears might be sweet if they are happy but they are killing mechines
Posted by: Cal | May 28, 2008 2:29 AM
everyone has a point, they're killing mechines, Yes. but what are murderers? They're killing mechines too. and i think we could've done something 10years ago if people would've noticed what we're doing to our environment and how in the next 50years the world could be 95% water from all the glaciers melting and stuff. Everyone uses cars cause they dont want to walk. well want to know what. get off your ass and get a bike, its better for your health and the environment.
Posted by: tab | June 8, 2008 4:29 PM
Yes they are killing machines. But what can you expect? Wild animals are not meant to be domesticated. People need to understand that. As much as people try to train these animals or believe that they can change their natural instincts, it's nearly impossible. People have trained tigers since they were new born cubs and years later they attack them. Everyone needs to understand that just because an animal may be pretty to look at, that does not mean that you can get close to it. Polar bears are the second largest member of the bear family, when standing they can be up to 11 feet tall and can easily weigh 1,000 pounds. People shouldn't be getting close to these animals by those facts alone. Zoo keepers wont even come in close contact with even a 6 month old polar bear, because they know the harm it can do. The animal can't help it's natural instints. Put a dog in a situation where it feels threatened and depending on it's temperment it will also attack. Just as if it were living in the wild, it would fend for itself by hunting. And unless youre a vegan or vegetarian you should not be critisizing an animal for hunting to survive when all of you do the exact same thing, only most of us don't kill the animals ourselves. If we could all understands the world's wildlife, then we wouldn't fear it, and more people would work harder at saving it, before it's too late.
As William Bebe once said, "When the last individual of a race of living beigns breathes no more, another heaven and another earth must pass before such a one can be again."
Posted by: Emily | August 14, 2008 10:10 PM
You realise that only four polar bears have died recently from drowning and that was because of a unusually strong storm. Global warming is not caused by humans and carbon dioxide is such a minor greenhouse gas that it has very little effect on the global temperature. You know my teacher told me that the sun is this really big ball of fire in the sky that gives warmth to the Earth, ever thought that it has something to do with it?
Posted by: Someone smart | September 7, 2008 6:00 AM
I love this pic i am going to be a vet next week. do u like this pic?
Posted by: kassaundra Stacy | September 20, 2008 9:01 AM
i think that this is aweful, weve all been too hot and know how annoyed we get, imagine having to live this way, and always have to worry about being hunted
Posted by: kasey | September 26, 2008 8:05 AM
if someone killed an endangered species, then they would be arrested, right?
then why is it that polution (cause by humans, mostly americans) is killing many polar bears, but it seems to be overlooked...and acceptable??
is it all of the sudden okay to kill endangerd species in large groups, with poisonous gases??
just a thought...?
Posted by: amy | October 1, 2008 1:29 PM
Polar Bears are dying. All over the Artic, there is a desperate struggle for survival as all the ice hat the bears have so long called home is being destroyed by us. Dedicated people are actively working to stop this injustice, but more people need to join this movement for any hope of saving the bears.
Posted by: Jesus | November 16, 2008 8:09 PM