Three Groups Sue Over Polar Bears

Polar Bear Protection Delay Challenged

Though federal scientists have shown that global warming is driving polar bears extinct, the Bush administration is illegally delaying a decision on whether to place the snowy icon in the federal endangered species list. To end the delay, the Center for Biological Diversity, Greenpeace, and the Natural Resources Defense Council took the administration to court on March 10th. It is the second time the Center has been forced to sue the administration since filing a scientific petition to protect the polar bear in 2005.

Polar bears live only in the Arctic and are dependent on sea ice for all their essential needs. The rapid warming and melting of the Arctic poses an overwhelming threat to the species, which could become the first mammal to lose 100 percent of its habitat to global warming.

Read the report from TIME Magazine below.


Visit the Polar Bear Web Page of the Center for Biological Diversity



TIME Magazine

Friday, March 14, 2008 By AP/DAN JOLING



(ANCHORAGE, Alaska) — Three conservation groups sued the Department of the Interior on Monday for missing a deadline on a decision to list polar bears as threatened because of the loss of Arctic sea ice.

A decision was due Jan. 9, one year after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed listing the animals as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

Agency Director Dale Hall said in January that officials needed a few more weeks to make a decision. But two months later, no decision has been announced.

Polar bears depend on sea ice for hunting seals, denning and giving birth. Conservation groups claim the loss of sea ice due to global warming is accelerating.

"Doing nothing means extinction for the polar bear. That's what the administration is doing — nothing," said Kassie Siegel, an attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity and the lead author of the 2005 petition that sought the listing.

Her group, the Natural Resources Defense Council and Greenpeace Inc. asked the federal court in San Francisco to order administration officials to make the decision.

Hall said in January he did not like missing the deadline but, "It is far more important to us to do it right and have it explained properly to the public."

Bruce Woods, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife spokesman in Anchorage, said he could not comment on pending legal action. "We are still working as fast as we can to get the decision announced," he said.

Alaska has the only two polar bear populations in the United States: the Beaufort Sea group off the state's north coast and the Chukchi Sea group, shared with Russia, off Alaska's northwest coast.

Summer sea ice in Alaska last year shrunk to about 1.65 million square miles last year, the lowest level in 38 years of satellite record-keeping and nearly 40 percent less ice than the long-term average between 1979 and 2000. Some climate models have predicted the Arctic will be free of summer sea ice by 2030. A U.S. Geological Survey study predicted polar bears in Alaska could be wiped out by 2050.

A decision to list polar bears due to global warming could trigger consequences beyond Alaska.

Opponents fear a recovery plan would subject projects such as new power plants to review if they generate greenhouse gases that add to warming in the Arctic. Conservation groups hope that's the case.

"We believe if and when the polar bear is listed, all federal agencies approving major sources of greenhouse gas emissions will have to look at ways to reduce those emissions to protect polar bears," Siegel said.

Last week, the Interior Department's inspector general said it was beginning a preliminary investigation into why the department had not made a decision.

The inquiry was opened in response to environmental groups and would determine whether a full-fledged investigation was warranted, the department said.




Photo from Center for Biological Diversity

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The Perfect Innocence of Nature

This story happened recently in the province of Manitoba, in Canada and was documented by a photographer.




Siberiam Huskies were peacefully pulling a dog sled when a starving PolarBear appeared from nowhere.




But for the friendly Huskies the Polar Bear just wanted to . . . play.






















And still there are people that think that peace is impossible.


See a video about a Polar Bear and a Husky playing



Translation - Henrique Ribeiro






Photos by Norbert Rosing, German Wildlife Phtographer

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Center for Biological Diversity

Your gift can help the Center send a wake up call to millions of Americans.
Help us show them what must be done to save polar bears and the Arctic.

Photo by Pete Spruance

The Center for Biological Diversity, located in Tucson, Arizona has an excellent campaign to raise funds to help inform the public about the plight of the Polar Bears. They have an excellent track record in pursing the protection of Polar Bears and their Habitat. Consider becoming a member of the very worthy Organization. Become a Biodiversity Activist. See the sidebar for links to their website.




Click on thephoto of the Polar Bear to go to the website for the Center for Biological Diversity to donate to the cause.


Photos - By permission from Center for Biological Diversity

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Polar Bear Habitat Receives Record Number of Bids

Polar Bear Habitat Receives Record Number of Bids

Lawsuit to Stop Sell-off of Millions of Acres of Polar Bear Habitat



On January 31 the Center for Biological Diversity and allies took the Bush administration to court over its plan to sell 30 million acres of prime polar bear habitat for oil and gas development in the Chukchi Sea. The action comes in response to the administration's fast-tracking of oil lease sales as it delays a final Endangered Species Act listing decision for the polar bear.



The lawsuit maintains that the administration violated the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act in approving the oil lease sales off Alaska's coast in the Chukchi Sea.


Read more in CNSnews below




By Monisha Bansal
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
February 06, 2008

Royal Dutch Shell was the highest bidder for leases in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska's northwest coast. The federal Minerals Management Service will take about 90 days to review bids.

The Minerals Management Service received a record number of bids for oil and gas exploration in the Chukchi Sea on Wednesday, land that is home to 20 percent of the world's polar bears.

Environmental groups have challenged the sale. They say the Bush administration delayed classifying the polar bear as an endangered species until the sale could be completed. The official deadline for classification was Jan. 9, 2008, but the Fish and Wildlife Service has yet to make a decision.


Robin Cacy, public affairs officer for the Minerals Management Service, told Cybercast News Service that the lease received 667 bids and the final lessee will be announced by 3 p.m. Alaska Standard Time.

"Companies have expressed a great deal of interest in the Chukchi Sea area," she said. "The area has got the potential for a large number of reserves for oil and gas, and I believe industry is interested in looking for that resource for the nation," she said.

Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) told Cybercast News Service: "The domestic oil and natural gas this region can provide for the American people is significant. With an estimated 15 billion barrels of oil and 77 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, the Chukchi lease sale has the potential of significantly reducing our growing dependence on foreign sources of energy from the Middle East and Venezuela."

"This significant source of domestic energy has justifiably received an extremely large amount of interest with a record number of bids being submitted to the Minerals Management Service for an Alaskan OCS sale," he said.

"The administration has taken a significant step toward helping our nation address the national security problems associated with an over-reliance on foreign governments for energy, and this will provide a major stimulus to our national economy," Young added.

Kassie Siegel, climate program director at the Center for Biological Diversity, however, said, "The companies that are bidding are on notice that we believe the sale is being conducted illegally because a lawsuit has been filed challenging that sale."

She told Cybercast News Service that her organization filed a lawsuit last week to contest the sale.

"We don't think they should have held the sale," she said. "We don't think the sale should go forward until they fully analyze the environmental impacts, and that hasn't been done.

"Once they hold the sale it's very likely that changing their minds will involve a very expensive buyout by the taxpayers, and there is no reason for that," said Siegel. "There is no legal deadline for the sale, but there is a legal deadline for the polar bear finding, and they are missing that deadline."

Cacy, however, noted that the litigation could not change results of the sale.

"Selling off our natural heritage to the highest bidder is a sad spectacle and represents a step backwards in our efforts to save the irreplaceable Arctic and the magnificent polar bears for future generations," said Carter Roberts, president and CEO of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), in a statement.

"We already know the future of the polar bear in the arctic is tenuous due to global warming," said Margaret Williams, WWF's director of the Bering Sea Program.




Cybercast News Service. "There is a concerted attempt to block all new oil production. I think it's promising that they've actually been able to push this one through. I think it's important that they keep opening up these offshore places until Congress opens up ANWR," the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.




Photos by Urso Branco

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Northern oil drilling will hurt polar bears

Two polar bears on a chunk of ice in the arctic.
(AP / Dan Crosbie / Canadian Ice Service)

Northern oil drilling will hurt polar bears: WWF

Thu. Feb. 7 2008 - CTV.ca News Staff

Canada's decision to open bidding for the rights to drill in the northern Beaufort Sea will destroy a large area of critical polar bear habitat and put the animal's future in danger, the World Wildlife Foundation said Thursday.




"These are areas where polar bears and bowhead whales and beluga whales and who knows what else call home," Dr. Peter Ewins, WWF Canada's director, told CTV.ca on Thursday. "Clearly these areas are important, perhaps critical, habitat for the pressured polar bears."

The rights to oil and gas exploration on more than 2.9 million acres of continental shelf in the Beaufort Sea, north of the Yukon and Northwest Territories, were recently offered up by the Canadian government. Bids will be accepted until June 2, when the rights will be issued.

On Wednesday, the U.S. government began selling similar property in Alaska. More than $2.6 billion was offered for the purchase of 2.7 million acres of the continental shelf in the Chukchi Sea. In the next few days, the U.S. is expected to decide whether to add polar bears to its Endangered Species Act -- a decision Ewins said was postponed in order to give the U.S. government time to sell more land.

Ewins said the Beaufort and Chukchi seas are the "last conventional oil and gas frontiers" left for development.The governments are rushing to open oil drilling now because they will not be allowed to if the polar bear is declared endangered, he said. "They're trying to sneak in as many of these oil and gas sales as possible before the polar bear gets listed as threatened," he said.

If the polar bear is listed as threatened, the onus would be on a developer to ensure their actions do not interfere with the animal's habitat. With polar bears on the verge of being placed on the endangered species list, Ewins said this could be the tipping point.

The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada is currently assessing the animal's status and will announce its decision in April. If they deem it a threatened species, Species at Risk will have a 180-day window to develop recovery plans. Those plans could include habitat protection in the Beaufort Sea.

Ewins said it would be too late to stop any sales completed on June 2 -- possibly worth more than $2 billion to the federal government. "It's great if you're the finance minister, but not so good if you're interested in polar bears, like most Canadians are," he said.

Critics say the government should wait for reports on the polar bear's health before letting gas companies into their habitat. Meanwhile, Manitoba declared that the polar bear was an endangered species in the province on Thursday. Conservation Minister Stan Struthers said Manitoba's government would protect polar bear habitat in the province and continue combat climate change. "We must continue to take action to protect one of our province's most unique species which is clearly being affected by climate change," said Struthers.

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Greenpeace Polar bear paddle boat protest

Greenpeace activist Tom Wetterer
dressed in polar bear costume
is arrested by outside the US Department of the Interior.

Bush Administration delaying listing as endangered

01 February 2008

Washington, DC, United States — What's a polar bear to do? Your ice is melting, politicians won't listen, and the government is dragging its feet about listing you as endangered... Off to Washington, to start your own floating vigil! Uh oh, here comes the fuzz.

OK, it was one of our activists in a costume - peacefully protesting the Bush Administration's delay in issuing a final Endangered Species Act listing for the polar bear due to global warming. Yesterday, the activist, dressed in a polar bear suit, sat quietly in a paddleboat in a park pond in front of the Department of Interior. (Until the police took him to jail, where he remains as of writing.)




Full steam ahead for new oil

While the Department of Interior is dragging their feet on protecting polar bears, they are moving full steam ahead on plans to drill for oil in prime polar bear habitat. New oil leases are opening up in the Chukchi Sea and oil companies are lining up quickly to obtain licenses to drill. A fifth of the remaining Arctic polar bears depend on Chukchi Sea ice in their hunt for food.

In December of 2005, Greenpeace and two other conservation groups sued the Bush administration when it missed its first legal deadline to respond to the petition for an endangered species listing. On December 27, 2006, the Service announced its proposal to list the species as "threatened" and had one year to make a final listing decision. The legal deadline for doing so was January 9, 2008.

Every week it seems there is new evidence that the sea ice is melting and that the polar bear’s habitat is disappearing. The US Geological Survey released a report this past September predicting that if current warming projections continue, two-thirds of the world’s polar bears will likely be extinct by 2050, including all of the polar bears in Alaska. With a timeline like that, it is hard to understand how the polar bears aren’t already protected.

Why Listing is So Important?

If the polar bears were listed under the United States Endangered Species Act - a safety net for plants and animals on the brink of extinction - they would be granted a broad range of protection. The protection would include a requirement that United States federal agencies ensure that any action carried out, authorized, or funded by the United States government will not "jeopardize the continued existence" of polar bears, or adversely modify their critical habitat.


Take Action with Greenpeace

Tell the US Congress not to wait for Bush - promote solutions to global warming now.


This article is reproduced from Greenpeace

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Center for Biological Diversity (and allies) Lawsuit

Suit Filed to Save 30 Million Acres of Polar Bear Habitat



On January 31 the Center for Biological Diversity and allies challenged the Bush administration's plan to sell 30 million acres of prime polar bear habitat to the oil and gas industry. The administration has fast-tracked the oil lease sale while at the same time illegally delaying an Endangered Species Act listing decision for the bear.

In its listing proposal, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife stated it did not have enough information to designate the polar bear's critical habitat. "If the interior secretary claims to not know what areas are essential to the conservation of the polar bear, then he certainly cannot sell off huge tracks of polar bear habitat to oil companies and claim it will have no impact on the species," said Kassie Siegel, climate program director for the Center.

The oil and gas development is slated to occur in an area that provides crucial habitat not only for polar bears, but also endangered bowhead whales, gray whales, Pacific walrus, ribbon seals, threatened spectacled eiders, and other marine birds and fish. Read more from Reuters!




Groups sue to block Alaska oil drilling plan

* Reuters
* Thursday January 31 2008

By Chris Baltimore

WASHINGTON, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Environmental groups sued the Bush administration on
Thursday to stop plans to allow oil and natural gas drilling in the icy Chukchi Sea off Alaska, which they claim will endanger polar bears.

The U.S. Interior Department plans to lease about 30 million acres of land in the Chukchi Sea -- home to about 10 percent of the world's polar bear population -- on Feb. 6. Environmental groups including the National Audubon Society, National Resources Defense Council(The Earth's Best Defense) and Earthjustice (Because the Earth Needs a Good Lawyer) filed suit in a federal court along with Alaska native groups to stop the lease sale -- which the federal government has put on a fast track for action. The Chukchi Sea is one of the few "frontier areas" where new oil and natural gas deposits can be found in North America, and could hold 15 billion barrels of oil, according to the Minerals Management Service, which oversees oil and gas leasing for the Interior Department.

Plaintiffs in the suit claim drilling will endanger polar bears, along with bowhead whales, gray whales, Pacific walrus, ribbon seals, threatened spectacled eiders, and other marine birds and fish.

"The only thing keeping pace with the drastic melting of the Arctic sea ice is the breakneck speed with which the Department of Interior is rushing to sell off polar bear habitat for fossil fuel development," said Brendan Cummings, oceans program director at the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the plaintiffs.A spokesman for the Minerals Management Service declined to comment.

A key decision on whether to list the big Arctic bear as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act is due in coming weeks from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which could coincide with the lease sale.

Earlier this month, MMS director Randall Luthi told a congressional panel that the risk to the bears from oil drilling would be negligible. If the oil sales went through before a decision was reached on the polar bears, there would be "an additional layer of consultation" with conservation officials as oil and gas companies worked in the area, Luthi said.

World polar bear populations are currently stable, but U.S. scientists estimate that two-thirds of them could be gone by 2050 if predictions about melting sea ice hold true. Polar bears live and hunt on sea ice; when it melts, they either drown or are forced onto land, where they are inefficient hunters.

This is the first time global warming has been a factor in arguing for "threatened" status for any species in the United States, and that makes the decision more complex.

(Editing by Russell Blinch and by Matthew Lewis)

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Churchill: A Town Under Siege - by Anne Gordon

Two young bears after a swim in the near freezing waters of Hudson Bay.

For six weeks from mid October through to the end of November, Churchill, in Canada's remote north, becomes a town under siege.

Its local population swells from 900 Churchillians to a whopping 10,000; the attraction, the annual migration to the sea ice of the world's largest, most ferocious land predators.



Each year at this time a polar bear migration that dates back thousands of years is set in motion as the waters along the western coast of Hudson Bay begin to freeze. With an inborn instinct, polar bears, scattered for hundreds of miles across the tundra, sense this change.Having fasted on a diet of berries, kelp and grasses for close to three months, the siren call of the ice is irresistible. Prompted by a gnawing hunger for meat the ravenous bears are enticed by the prospects of a feed they favour above all else; the soft tender flesh of ringed seal pups.

Standing up to three and a half meters tall at full stretch, the largest weighing in at 675 kilograms, these magnificent killing machines move across glacial rock and tundra from their southern stamping grounds for the town that just happens to be on the direct route to the sea ice.

A curious bear is drawn to investigate the delectable odours
emanating from the Tundra Buggy.
With a sense of smell twenty times stronger
than that of a human, not much escapes his attention.

As they approach, Churchill, with years of polar bear encounters, prepares its defences. Sirens are tested, extra rangers from around the country are brought in to patrol the town's boundaries and divert the invaders. The polar bear jail is readied and rifles are loaded with cracker shells . . . . a big bang causing no physical damage.

There was a period in the '70s when any poar bear wandering into town was shot. Not so today.

Bears that slip into town after managing to evade the ´polar bear police´ on the town's outskirts are either darted or lured into a trap baited with delectably fragrant cloth doused in whale or seal oil. From there the bears are transported to the ´polar bear jail', a huge metal enclosure just steps from Churchill's Lilliputian airport

On my recent visit to Churchill for a bear watching safari, the jail was already temporary home to ten miscreants. In 2005, 58 polar bears passed through its accommodations. The polar bears, kept in a cubicle in solitary confinement for 30 days, are fed a diet (or non-diet) that can only be described as bland. No seal meat, no whale blubber, not even a kelp snack, only water in the form of snow.

Life in the jail was not always so spartan for these gigantic carnivores. At first bears were given 'tasty meals', but then the town soon discovered its mistake. The wily animals returned the following year for a comfortable wait and regular feeding at 'Hotel Polar Bear'(the jail)until the waters of Hudson Bay froze over allowing them to hunt. It seemed that hard labour was the only answer.

Most frequently in the past the bears highway into town was via Button Street ending up opposite the Lazy Bear Lodge in the town's center. Disturbed at the thought - I was staying at the Lazy Bear Lodge - I asked Jerry our guide what to expect should I see a bear sneaking out from one of the alleys lining the main street. "Don't worry" he said. "If you see a bear just give it a wide berth! Once they reach town the stimuli usually confuses them. Houses and cars are left unlocked during the bear season so just duck into the nearest door or flag down a car."

Was it any consolation to hear that problem bears, those that return again and again, are sedated and shipped out of town in a cradle hanging beneath a helicopter?

Indeed it was. Doped and disoriented, delinquent bears are deposited in a more northerly area close to the sea ice. The cost of this punishment, starting ta $5,000 a time, is borne by the Churchillians. A fund, kept in the black by film crews who want to photograph an evacuation, lessens the burden with a constant inflow of photography fees.

As I snuggled deep into my duvet in The Lazy Bear Lodge that first night on Canada's wild frontier, my thoughts drifted back to the day's polar bear safari on the tundra.

On a viewing platform at the back of the giant tundra buggy I had a nose to nose encounter with a massive male polar bear. He had stretched himself full length against the side of the buggy to get a better view of us on the platform. Just feet apart, my camera trained on his face, I looked into apair of dangerously intelligent eyes. They were dark brown edged with a milky halo. He hissed softly as he watched me. As I looked back at him through my camera lens I felt almost hypnotized.

He was what Jarret, our driver, called a 'real pretty bear', but the truth is that this huge, fluffy, cuddly looking animal with its gentle dog-like face could and would, given the opportunity,crush a human head with its powerful jaws in seconds. A representative from the Polar Bears International organization showed us exactly how in a demonstration with Jarret, our driver, acting as polar bear lunch. Using a bear skull to illustrate the nears modus operandi, she opened the jaws then clamped them over Jarret's head.

Jarret Long, our Tundra Buggy driver, in a demonstration
showing a polar bear's mode of attack
once it has pulled a seal from it's breathing hole on the sea ice.

Meanwhile, back in the Lazy Bear Lodge the sharp report of cracker shells throughout the dark night reminded me that it was dangerous out there. On patrol 24/7 rangers touring the town's perimeter and equipped with spotlights, illuminate dark spaces where polar bears could be hiding.

Should a bear be seen in town, the eerie wail of a siren alerts the townspeople.

Thinking back on this incredible days on Canada's Arctic tundra, I couldn't help fear for the future of these magnificent beasts. The polar bear population has dwindled to around 25,000 and the alarm bell is tolling for their survival. Because of global warming, the sea ice id forming later each year. The bears are having to fast up to three weeks longer. Spending less time on the ice means the bears are unable to hunt and build up the body reserves necessary for the summer months on land.

There is a danger according to Lara Hansen, a scientist with the World Wildlife Fund, 'that bears could become so thin by 2012 they may no longer be able to reproduce." Without a determined effort to control this mounting problem this could be the century that polar bears become a memory, a tragic loss for humanity.

Guide Jerry Anderson takes members of a tour group
past the polar bear jail on the edge of town.

Anne Gordon and James Gordon are travel writers based in Guelph, ON, Canada

This article has been included here in its entirety. It was copied from DEL Condominium Life, Spring issue 2007

Photographs by Anne Gordon

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Help Protect Polar Bears as Endangered

Polar bear photo by Brendan Cummings.
Please forward this message to 10 friends.
It's our last chance to influence the process
a- let's rally as many people as we can.

This article is from the newsletter by The Center for Biological Diversity:




Polar bears are in trouble. The melting of the Arctic is killing them. Some are already starving and drowning. If global warming is allowed to continue, the Arctic will be entirely ice-free during the summer, dooming polar bears to extinction.

Read more about the petition to the US Government.


But as you may have seen in the news over the past few days, federal bureaucrats are illegally delaying a decision to protect the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act. Meanwhile they are fast-tracking Arctic oil drilling while the bear remains unprotected!

The Center for Biological Diversity and our allies are preparing to go to court to force the administration to finalize the Endangered Species Act listing. But we need your help as well. Polar bears need a massive groundswell of public support to show that people are watching and will not tolerate delays, denial, or political game-playing.

Tell the Bush administration to immediately list the polar bear as an endangered species. With your help, we'll send the petition with 50,000 signatures to the White House on January 31st.

Click the wolf for the petition.

When I wrote the 170-page scientific request to list the polar bear as an endangered species in 2004, I never dreamed how much public support it would garner. Hundreds of thousands of people have urged the government to act.

The decision to save the polar bear - or not - is in its final stages. Please take a minute to sign the petition today . Polar bears will thank you for it.


Sincerely,

Kassie Siegel
Climate, Air and Energy Program Director
Center for Biological Diversity

p.s. Check out this story in National Geographic:

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC NEWS January 7, 2008

U.S. Delays Polar Bear Decision
BY John Roach

The U.S. government today postponed a final decision on whether to list the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.

The delay stems from a backlog of work, not scientific uncertainty or a pending lease sale for oil and gas development in polar bear habitat, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said during a telephone press briefing.

The service said it will miss its original Wednesday deadline but plans to make a formal recommendation within 30 days. No firm decision date was set, however.

Evaluation of a suite of reports from the U.S. Geological Survey that concluded two-thirds of the world's polar bears could go extinct by 2050 prompted the delay, the service said.

The studies were completed last September, but in response, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reopened and extended a public comment period on the findings.

Evaluation of the new science and the comments it generated is still going on, Dale Hall, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said during the briefing.

"While we do not like missing time lines that are called for under the act, it is far more important to us to get a right answer and have it explained properly to the public," he said. "So we'll be needing to take some extra time here to finish that up."

Scott Bergen is a landscape ecologist with the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society and a contributing author to the U.S. Geological Survey polar bear studies. He said he is disappointed with the delay.

"At least with the scientific team I was involved with, it was pretty clear, especially with the polar bear population that exists in Alaska, that they are in danger," he said. "I'm hoping this delay is temporary and only 30 days."

Lawsuit and Suspicions

A coalition of environmental groups said today they will file a lawsuit notice Wednesday to enforce the deadline. The groups are suspicious the delay is political, not scientific.

For example, the U.S. Mineral Management Service announced last week that it will hold a final lease sale for oil and gas development in the Chukchi Sea off the northwestern Alaskan coast, which is polar bear habitat. The sale is slated to happen on February 6.

"It's very suspicious," said Kassie Siegel, climate program director at the Center for Biological Diversity and lead author of the 2005 petition to list the polar bear.

"It's our experience that when listing decisions get delayed in Washington, D.C., it's always a bad thing, because Washington, D.C., is where the political interference happens," she added.

Fish and Wildlife director Hall said the lease sale has no bearing on the delay and added that any action related to the lease sale would still have to comply with the Endangered Species Act and other environmental regulations.

Scientific Certainty

In addition, Hall noted, there is no strong scientific uncertainty regarding the U.S. Geological Survey findings that two-thirds of polar bears face a risk of extinction by 2050.

"It's just unfortunately one of those times I'll have to tell you we'll have to miss a deadline in order to provide the quality and product that we believe needs to be provided," he said.

Alaska Governor Sara Palin wrote in a January 5 op-ed for the New York Times that "there is insufficient evidence that polar bears are in danger of becoming extinct within the foreseeable future-the trigger for protection under the Endangered Species Act."

The Center for Biological Diversity's Siegel said all science has a degree of uncertainty but that uncertainty is very low for the polar bear.

Polar bears eat mostly seals and other fatty marine animals that they hunt from sea ice. The bears prefer to hunt from ice that hangs over shallow continental shelf waters, which contain more prey than deeper waters offshore.

But summer sea ice in the polar bears' Arctic habitat is shrinking and retreating farther and farther from the coastline, which crimps the bears' ability to forage efficiently. Some bears are starving to death.

Scientists believe human-caused global warming is contributing to the decline in sea ice habitat.

Saving polar bears, therefore, requires human action to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, Siegel noted. But taking such action is a political decision.

"We know what we have to do to save polar bears," she said. "We just have to start doing it."

Polar bear photo by Brendan Cummings.

Click on the Wolf above to see more on protection of Endangered and near endangered Species at the Center for Biological Diversity. Help protect the Polar Bear and other species.

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Toronto's last polar bear heads back up north

Bye, to Bisitek

As of Aug 21, 2007 Polar Bears are off display until further notice due to commencement of Tundra construction project.

Bisitek, 27, just moved to the Cochrane Polar Bear Habitat and Heritage Village to join the three other polar bears Aurora, Nakita and Nanook. Nicknamed “Bisi,” she is planning on retiring in Cochrane after spending most of her life at the Toronto Zoo.





Toronto Star, Sep 07, 2007

Polar bear lovers are out in the cold in Toronto. The last polar bear has left the Toronto Zoo and the exhibit has shut down while a $12 million, two-year redevelopment begins.

The zoo has shipped off 27-year-old Bisitek to northern Ontario, where she is to enjoy "a restful retirement" at the Cochrane Polar Bear Habitat, according to zoo officials.

The move was made to allow the zoo to launch a bigger and better polar bear habitat and tundra phase, where Arctic wolves, reindeer, snowy owls and other animals would be introduced.

The project is expected to be completed in 2009."Polar bear lovers will just have to be patient," said Toronto Zoo curator Maria Franke.

For the next two years, Cochrane will be the only Ontario city with polar bears in captivity.

The Cochrane exhibit now has four polar bears at the all-season habitat, located eight hours north of Toronto.

Bisitek, who was taken by a refrigerated trailer late at night last month, had been a fixture at the Toronto Zoo since 1980.

Orphaned in the wild, she was donated to the zoo by the Canadian Wildlife Service.

Last fall, Bisitek's pen mate Kunik died and the cause of his death has been attributed to West Nile virus.

Kunik began having trouble using his hind legs Sept. 19 and was put down for humane reasons two days later.

"We will miss Bisitek very much," Franke, the Toronto curator, said. "The polar bears were one of the top animal attractions at the zoo. However, it's going to be an exciting time introducing new polar bears to the Toronto Zoo."

Zoo officials say that Bisitek was sound asleep when she reached her destination and was not disoriented upon arrival.

She was accompanied by Franke, her keeper and a veterinarian.

In Cochrane, Bisitek will be reunited with Nikita and Aurora, who were donated to the Toronto Zoo in 2001.

Polar bears rarely live much past 30 years in captivity, although the oldest in Canada is believed to be 40 and living in Winnipeg.

The Toronto Zoo has begun the search for new polar bears. It expects to have a male and two females with hopes they will produce cubs when the revamped exhibit opens in 2009.

Curtis Rush Toronto Star, Staff Reporter



Timmins Daily Press

New polar bear for Cochrane
By Michael Peeling


The Cochrane polar bear family has a new addition from southern Ontario.

Finding herself without a home at the Toronto Zoo, 27-year-old female polar bear
Bisitek now hangs her hat at the Cochrane Polar Bear Habitat and Heritage Village,
where she will share space with twin females Nakita and Aurora, and male Nanook,
who is also 27.

Known to her keepers as "Bisi," they decided the aged bear should retire at the
Northern Ontario habitat now that the Toronto Zoo has closed its habitat for renovations.

For the next two years, Cochrane will be the only place in Ontario for the public to see polar bears.

The Cochrane habitat's director of conservation, Patricia Morin, says Bisi handled
the Aug. 20-move well.

"She slept the whole way from Toronto," Morin said. "It took us 25 minutes to wake her, but she's adapting well. She already knows how to shift from room-to-room."

Morin said the results of Bisi's blood work were good, a precaution taken to ensure
she doesn't bring diseases such as West Nile Virus up north.

A polar bear moving to a new location could be kept in quarantine for 30 to 42 days,
but Morin hopes Bisi will be ready to join the other three bears in the habitat before the next two weeks are up.

"We have to be careful not to let her out too fast," Morin said. "If we do, chances
are she'll just run to other side of the pen and stay away from the other bears.
Moving can be very stressful for a polar bear."

However, polar bears are naturally solitary animals according to Morin.
She said Bisi has actually flourished since her mate died a year-and-a-half ago.

The efforts to acclimate Bisi will include taking her through new routines used
at the habitat and making first contact with her peers through wire mesh.

"They need to get used to each other first," Morin said. "If we let them interact
with each other right away, the other girls might intimidate her."

The eventual meeting of three female bears will actually be a reunion because
Nakita and Aurora lived at the Toronto Zoo in 2001 before moving to Cochrane.

Bisi will have to adjust to living on grass as well - something she hasn't experienced since she was born in the wild - because the Toronto Zoo habitat is made up mostly of concrete slabs, and more snow in the winter.

She was orphaned in 1980 and saved by the Canadian Wildlife Service. Habitat spokeswoman Erin Van Alstine expects to see Bisi rolling around on the grass
a lot as she adjusts to the perks of the environment.

"At first you'll probably see a lot of hesitation from her," Van Alstine said.
"She'll be thinking, 'Do I? don't I?'"

Van Alstine anticipates a big spike in the number of visitors to the Cochrane
habitat now that the Toronto Zoo polar bear area is temporarily closed until fall 2009. As it stands, the Toronto Zoo isn't planning on having Bisi back once renovations are completed.

"Right now the plan is to keep her here during her retirement," Morin said.

"It's not good to keep moving polar bears, but ultimately it's up to the Toronto Zoo."




Photos by Urso Branco

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Two-thirds of the world's polar bears will be killed off by 2050

Two polar bears on a chunk of ice in the arctic.

Global warming to decimate polar bears: scientists

Updated Sat. Sep. 8 2007 2:30 PM ET

Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Two-thirds of the world's polar bears will be killed off by 2050, including the entire population in Alaska, because of thinning sea ice from global warming in the Arctic, government scientists forecast Friday.

Only in northern Canada and northwestern Greenland are 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 lose 42 per cent of the Arctic range they need to live in during summer in the Polar Basin when they hunt and breed.

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. But the sea ice is decreasing due to climate change and the latest forecasts of how much they are shrinking are, if anything, an underestimate, scientists said.

"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."

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.

"Despite any mitigation of greenhouse gases, we are going to see the same amount of energy in the system the next 20, 30 or 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.

USGS issued nine separate reports on polar bears Friday. Those included projections for one group of polar bears in the Southern Beaufort Sea and two in Canada that are among 19 distinct subpopulations.

They were made public to help guide Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne's decision expected in January on his agency's proposal to add the polar bear to the government's endangered species list.

USGS declined to provide precise estimates of polar bear populations 50 years from now.

A separate organization, the World Conservation Union, based in Gland, Switzerland, has estimated the polar bear population in the Arctic now is about 20,000 to 25,000, put at risk by melting sea ice, pollution, hunting, development and tourism.

Last December, Kempthorne proposed designating polar bears as a "threatened" species deserving of federal protection under the Endangered Species Act, because of melting Arctic sea ice from global warming. That category is second to "endangered" on the government's list of species believed most likely to become extinct.

That action is in response to a lawsuit in 2005 by three environmental groups - the Center for Biological Diversity, Natural Resources Defense Council and Greenpeace - to force such a proposal from Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service, which oversees endangered species.

The fate of polar bears has struck a public nerve. Fish and Wildlife officials have received 600,000 public comments so far on the proposed listing, spokesman Chris Tollefson said.

On Friday, Representative Edward Markey (D-Mass.), urged President George W. Bush's administration to grant polar bears federal protection.

"This is becoming a tragic metaphor for the administration's voluntary approach to global warming," said Markey, chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. "Instead of meeting the challenge, the Bush administration is happy to float along, waiting to see if the planet, and polar bears, will sink or swim."

From CTV News.

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Knut Photo Gallery

On December 5, 2006 Knut was born in the Berlin Zoo. His mother abandoned him so the zoo trainer adopted him. He plays with Knut daily and at first he slept with Knut. The kids in Berlin adore Knut.

You can see several videos of Knut at:

http://blog.rbb-online.de/roller/knut/category/Knut+international

http://blog.rbb-online.de/roller/knut/category/Videos+von+Knut

http://www.rbb-online.de/knut/


Now we will show you many photos of Knut starting with his birth.



Sleeping in the Incubator.




Warm and safe.




Feeding time.




Resting with friends.





Play time!




Knut's mom




Cuddly Knut




A sweet Baby.




Here I am world!!!





A head scratch feels good.





A sweet face!




Tender loving care.





First steps.


A gift from Canada.




This Canadian Ball is lots of fun.





A nap for Knut.




Wake up!





Looking around.






Maybe I will sleep some more.





A handsome fellow.




Getting big.





A back scratch is great.




Fishing fun!





Playing with my best friend!





This tastes good!


All Knut photos from Knut's website and Der Spiegel

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