Gore stranded polar bear lie exposed by Aussie TV

[C.Morgan]

I am of the opinion that even a Polar Bear has a right to live on this planet. Killing for food or protection is a separate issue. This is killing for "sport", and even that is not eliminated, just scaled back a bit. Not that expect they will honor the quotas anyway, they ARE above the law and they know it.

They still eat the bears they just make 25k while doing it.

nonsense, ... not the 25k part, the eating part. Perhaps a few steaks if the trophy hunter doesn't mind, perhaps not. They no longer live off of the land, have you heard?

What gives you the right to impose your beliefs on the Inuit?

Are they "special"? or can they hunt an animal to extinction because of their "traditions"? Narwahl come to mind???

Polar Bears have a tough enough life without having to watch for a-holes in helicopters with a 50 cal. on a tripod. That is a human activity!:lol:

Maybe the Inuit don't like you raising cows and then killing them for food.

Are cows wild animals or are they domestic? Get back me after you look that up.

Do they have the right to impose a vegetarian lifestyle on you?

No, and I am not imposing it on them either.

As somebody recently returned from another stint in the Arctic I can respond to this.

The apparent helicopter hunting with a 50 caliber gun is simply BS.

The Inuit, Dene, Inuvialuit eat as much locally harvested game as they possibly can. It is a preference in taste up that way.

With polar bears, the guided hunter will keep the pelt and the locals will gladly eat every ounce of the meat (aside from the liver).

There are few industries up there and there are polar bears to spare.

There is nothing wrong with letting guides make some income and get some meat out of this.

The method of hunting involves snowmobiles and high power rifles (not 50 caliber). On the open ice, it is not exactly the most sporting method but as somebody who has been on a snowmobile on the Beaufort only a few months ago, I can assure you that it is not comfortable or easy by any means.

This all comes down to the critters just being too cute and fuzzy for some to imagine being killed despite the benefit to a very limitted local economy.

[styky]

Governor says Alaska will challenge polar bear listing
By DAN JOLING –
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The state of Alaska will sue to challenge the recent listing of polar bears as a threatened species, Gov. Sarah Palin announced Wednesday.

She and other Alaska elected officials fear a listing will cripple oil and gas development in prime polar bear habitat off the state's northern and northwestern coasts.

Palin argued that there is not enough evidence to support a listing. Polar bears are well-managed and their population has dramatically increased over 30 years as a result of conservation, she said.

Climate models that predict continued loss of sea ice, the main habitat of polar bears, during summers are unreliable, said Palin, a Republican........<a href=http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j9NGJ0_eVkxqgpEFC6RMHVlvT9qwD90QBM4G1>Continued</a>

[styky]

You gotta love those Europeans. They have been lambasting North America over treatment of bears and one shows up on their doorstep and they shoot first ask questions later.


Fearing it would disappear into the fog, Icelandic authorities shoot polar bear
Reuters
Published: Thursday, June 05, 2008
<a href=http://www.nationalpost.com/todays_paper/story.html?id=565169>source</a>


Icelandic authorities said they were forced to shoot a polar bear found wandering on the island in order to protect the public after a plan to anaesthetize the animal was abandoned. The bear, an adult male weighing around 250 kilograms, was presumed to have swum to shore from drifting ice. "There was a lot of fog in the area and the bear was moving into the fog. We couldn't risk losing him and there was no time to wait for anaesthetics, so we had to shoot him. It was for the safety of the public," Police Superintendent Stefan Vagn Stefansson told Icelandic national radio yesterday. Polar bears are infrequent visitors to Iceland, the last one having come ashore in 1988. When they have come to Iceland they have usually travelled most of the way on icebergs from the east coast of Greenland and then swum to the coast. The animals are excellent swimmers.

[styky]

Looks like another bear slipped on shore and got the same treatment.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/ ... 17,00.html

[styky]

or should I say
Polar bears resort to cannibalism as Arctic ice shrinks
(CNN) -- Summer is over in the northern hemisphere, but it's been another chilling season for researchers who study Arctic sea ice.

"It's definitely a bad report. We did pick up little bit from last year, but this is over 30 percent below what used to be normal," said Walt Meier, a research scientist with the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado.

<a href=http://www.cnn.com/2008/BUSINESS/09/23/arctic.ice/>continued</a>

[bluecon]

All about Polar Bears

'The concern that polar bears will decline if the climate continues to
warm is valid. However, the assertion that polar bears will become extinct unless immediate measures are
taken to curb greenhouse gas emissions is irrational because it is inconsistent with the long-term persistence
of polar bears through previous periods of warming and cooling; and because the IPCC climate model
predictions 50 and 100 years into the future do not suggest a future with insufficient sea ice to support polarbears as a viable species. Currently, polar bears are abundant and in no danger of extinction thanks to
coordinated research and management programs developed and implemented under the International
Agreement for the Conservation of Polar Bears and their Habitat (Brower et al. 2002; Fikkan et al. 1993,
Prestrud and Stirling 1994). During the last 30 years, it is generally agreed that polar bear numbers have
increased as a response to improved conservation measures (harvest controls). Climate warming has occurred
continuously during that period and consequent reductions in sea ice have been to the detriment of polar bear
populations in at least two areas (Regehr et al. 2006, 2007a,b). However, the assertion that polar bears as a
species are in imminent danger of extinction or even threatened with extinction in the foreseeable future is
both unproven and unlikely. We provide a current status assessment of polar bears from both a demographic
and ecological perspective, and examine some of the popular and scientific arguments put forward in support
of the notion that climate change threatens polar bears with extinction in the foreseeable future."

http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/image ... _bears.pdf

[bluecon]

"Polar bears have no natural predators. However, intra-specific predation is a well documented source of
natural mortality and could be a potential limiting factor of population growth. The killing of cubs to bring
females into estrus (infanticide), or killing of cubs and adults for food is not uncommon in other species of
bears and occurs occasionally in polar bears"

[styky]

<a href=http://wattsupwiththat.com/2008/09/30/bs-alert-polar-bear-hearing-affected-to-due-global-warming/> BS Alert: Polar bear hearing affected to due global warming?</a> - From the BBC, a video report so absurd, you wonder if it is an April fools joke. The premise? Noise from excessive ice calving and cracking due to “climate change” would affect the bear’s hearing. I wonder what agency was gullible enough to provide a grant for this load of rubbish? Like polar bears have never heard ice floes cracking and calving before? Give me a break. Plus, the polar bear they are using for a test subject isn’t in it’s natural environment, it’s at a zoo and who’s to say this bear establishes a credible baseline hearing test? This is just unbelievable stupidity in the guise of bad science. What next? Hearing aids for polar bears? A hat tip to Tony B in the UK for alerting me to this story. - Anthony (Watts Up With That?)..............................

[styky]

Polar Bear Lifejackets?
<a href=http://www.greenmuze.com/news/recent-news/552-polar-bear-lifejackets-.html>source</a>
Swedish design group ADDI has come up with an cutting-edge polar bear lifejacket design concept to help polar bears navigate the changes in their habitat. They offer the following explanation for their lifejacket design:

A dog who lives most of its days carried around in an expensive handbag, doesn’t need a camouflage hoodie and a small cap over its ears. There are a few others who we should give at least the same attention. This concept is not a solution for the endangered species, its purpose is to show one of the many areas where people could have done something good with our knowledge, and instead we keep our eyes closed. Hopefully you won’t support cheap crap anymore, save your money for those who really need to be saved. Polar bears are drowning because the ice is melting. They have to swim up to 10,000 km to find food. Global warming needs to be stopped.
—ADDI

The iconic creature of climate change is the reluctant polar bear. Warming in the Arctic is occurring at twice the rate seen in other parts of the planet according to the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA). As ice caps continue to melt, the polar bear no longer has access to ice floes that they use to feed from.

For the first time in history scientists are reporting that polar bears are drowning in the Arctic. One of the contributing factors is that polar bears are now forced to swim longer distances to encounter ice, and the longer swims make the creatures vulnerable to exhaustion, hypothermia and becoming swamped by ocean waves.

Scientists are now predicting the polar bear may be extinct by the end of this century. What people don’t realize is just how few polar bears there actually are - the world’s population is somewhere between 21,000 to 25,000. The Last Polar Bear explains that, when all is said and done, and after the ice has melted, the formidable polar bear – this King of the Arctic – has nowhere to go but to zoos or other forms of captivity. Maybe a life jacket is not such a bad idea.

Visit: http://www.addi.se/

[styky]

Mybe they could save more polar bears if those lifejackets talked about in the above article were made of Kevlar


<a href=http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/WWF-Canada-Applauds-Minister-Prentice/story.aspx?guid=%7B3726F4C1-3781-497C-98BA-F9106326BB16%7D>WWF-Canada Applauds Minister Prentice for Commitment to Help Prevent Over-Hunting of Polar Bears</a>
TORONTO, ONTAIRO, Nov 17, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) -- WWF-Canada today congratulated Minister Prentice for agreeing to convene in the next 60 days a round-table meeting to address overhunting of polar bears in the Baffin Bay region of the Arctic, straddling Canada and Greenland. ............................................

[styky]

We are down one Polar Bear tonight a sad day for everyone who loved Debby.

Readers invited to share pictures, memories of Debby
November 18, 2008

Many Winnipeggers felt a special connection with Debby, the polar bear who died at the zoo on Monday.

Readers are encouraged to publicly share their feelings about Debby in words and pictures. Please email submissions to feedback@freepress.mb.ca.

We’re inviting pictures of yourself, family and friends in front of Debby’s home (we don’t need pictures of Debby by herself, we already have lots of good ones in the Free Press photo archives).

We’re also interested in your written opinions, with or without pictures. What did Debby mean to you? What are your personal memories of her? What type of memorial would be apt?

The 42-year-old polar bear -- the oldest in the world - was euthanized at the zoo Monday after suffering multiple organ failure.

“Debby was without a doubt the most famous animal in the Assiniboine Park Zoo’s history. Her uncanny ability to strike magnificent and charming poses resulted in her being featured in countless photographs, films and media stories. She will be missed,” zoo coordinator Dr. Gordon Glover said in a prepared statement.

A public tribute to Debby’s remarkable life is planned for noon to 1 p.m. Saturday at the zoo’s Animal Tracks Cafe.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breaki ... 4804c.html

[Dacre]

Was Debby wearing a life jacket?

[styky]

Was Debby wearing a life jacket?

Debby has been pretty sick for some time so measuring her would have been a little difficult.

[styky]

This is great When these save the earth types have finished dressing all the bears in their life protective jackets they can then outfit them with a map to all the bird nests.


Goose Eggs Could Get Polar Bears Through Global Warming
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Polar bears could avoid extinction despite many starving to death in coming years, according to scientists and other observers who have discovered that some of the bears have found a new food source — goose and duck eggs.
<a href=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,467246,00.html>continued</a>

[styky]

Environmental Restrictionists Could Use Polar Bears To Get In The Way Of Infrastructure Projects
By Michael Barone

Dec 22, 2008
US News) By Michael Barone, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.

In his townhall.com column, Hugh Hewitt cites my recent blogpost on Interior Secretary-designate Ken Salazar and raises the question of how Salazar will deal with polar bears. Yes, polar bears. As Hewitt points out in this column and as he has written on his blog at hughhewitt.com, environmental restrictionists want to use the threat that supposed global warming poses to polar bears as the basis of legal suits to stop economic development not just in Alaska but throughout the United States. This sounds outlandish, but it's true. No economic growth because it might raise temperatures in the Arctic, which might in turn reduce the number of ice floes that these attractive carnivores jump on.
More - http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/12/ ... 4681.shtml