Tag Archives: Polar Bears

Troubling Trend: Polar bear populations falling

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Despite what some climate-change deniers have claimed of late, polar bears are struggling to survive, as the planet warms.

An LA Times ran article on Saturday, reporting on a recent study that showed populations of polar bears in Alaska and western Canada fell by 40 percent, from 2001 to 2010. The research was conducted by scientists from a number of organizations, including the U.S. Geological Survey and Environment Canada.

As the report notes, hunting for food is much more difficult for the animals now. As the Arctic ice continues to dramatically melt, they are forced to swim greater distances between ice fields.

But some in the anti-science crowd continue to claim the ice is not melting and polar bears are healthy and happy. Just saying something that is not true over and over and over again doesn’t turn it into a fact.

It’s so sad to see entire species of majestic creatures slip into extinction, while the root causes are too largely ignored. Sometimes, as is the case with climate change, it is greed that drives the movement to ignore these issues.

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Polar bears did get some good news this month

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A federal appeals court upheld on March 1 a law listing polar bears as a threatened species.

The LA Times reporting explained the particulars as –

… U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., upheld the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 2008 decision to protect the animals because the dramatic loss of sea ice leaves them likely to become in danger of extinction.

There is of course the sea ice loss and the hunting activity that is adding to their plight. Despite these facts, the state of Alaska is fighting efforts to protect polar bears. In large part, the state is doing the bidding of the oil and gas industry – or should I say some big corporations are pulling the puppet strings and the state officials are dancing at the end of these strings.

 

Troubling animal-welfare news from around the globe

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The week isn’t turning out to be a great one on the Pack News Wire – in terms of news from the animal-welfare front.

IN CHINA: The New York Times reports protections for animals are still far down the road in China, where torturing animals is commonplace and the government looks the other way – entirely. The No. 2 economy on the planet gets a huge F in caring for animals.

The China Animal Protection Law, proposed in 2009, is gathering dust on a shelf somewhere.

The NY Times blog post linked above details the horrible dog trade, where they are tortured – stuffed into small cages without food for water for days on the back of trucks, before being thrown off the trucks and beaten to death. The people who engage in this practice are part of an evil club that includes poachers, dog fighters, bear bile farmers, puppy mill operators and anyone who tortures animals for profit or entertainment. Members of Club Evil also include individuals who abuse kids.

How anyone can be this evil is beyond comprehension. As is the case in other countries, I’m sure the majority of the people of China do not support the abuse of animals. But the government seems hell-bent on allowing the suffering to go on.

INTERNATIONAL: At an international summit held in Bangkok, a proposal to grant more protections for polar bears was rejected. This happened at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

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