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Polar Bears

Don Getty
A polar bear on ice floes.
Polar bearsare among the largest members of the bear family. Their white coat is actually composed of hollow hairs that reflect sunlight, producing a whitish/yellow camouflage in their Arctic habitat. Underneath the snowy coat is black skin, which helps them retain heat from sunlight. Polar bears mate between April and May. Shortly after fertilization, the embryo ceases development and floats inside the mother's womb for a period of four or more months. This process, called delayed implantation, allows the mother to feed and build up enough body fat to survive eight months of hibernation. Cubs are born about every three years, generally in litters of two. At birth, the cubs weigh approximately one and a half pounds. Males can grow to weigh as much as 1,000 pounds and reach 11 feet in length. Polar bears are carnivores, feeding primarily on Arctic ringed seals. Their partially webbed paws allow them to swim, at a pace of six miles per hour, for up to 60 miles without rest. They live and hunt on frozen ice floes during winter months, and survive on berries and stored fat (and on human garbage in certain areas) when the short summer thaw forces them onto land, rendering seals inaccessible. Polar Bears Face Growing Threats

TheWorld Conservation Union's Polar Bear Specialist Group has stated that polar bear populations could drop more than 30 percentin the coming45 years. Polar bears are classified as vulnerable on theIUCN Red List of threatened species.Both the United States and Canada have also classified the polar bear as requiring special protections. The HSUS believes all nonessential human exploitation of polar bears, such as capture for display or trophy hunting, should be prohibited.
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Polar bears, top predators in their arctic habitat, face growing threats to their survival from habitat loss and degradation, specifically from:
  1. climate change andsea ice reduction
  2. environmental contaminants and chemical pollutants
  3. development
  4. hunting and capture for public display
1. Climate Change and Sea Ice Reduction Polar bears are highly adapted to their Arctic habitat. Recent declines in their numbers can be linked to the retreat of sea ice and its formation later in the year.The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment reported in 2004 that the covering of summer ice in the Arcticshrunk by 15 to 20 percentin the past 30 years, and the decline was expected to accelerate.Further predictedreductions of 10 to 50 percentof annual sea ice and 50 to 100 percentof summer sea ice in the next 50 to 100 years present a considerable threat.Ice is breaking up earlier in some areas and is predicted to do so in other areas, forcing bears ashore before they build up sufficient fat stores or forcing them to swim longer distances, which may exhaust them, leading to drowning.Not only is the Arctic warmingforcing the bears to feed for a shortertime, but it is alsodecreasing their prey base.The consequences are thinner, stressed bears, decreased female reproductive rates, and lower juvenile survival rates. Although a broad consensus has emerged thathuman activities arecontributingto global warming, greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase in the United States and abroad.The United States has refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement intended to decrease the human production of greenhouse gases.Without the participation of the United States, the protocol is unlikely to meet its 2012 goal ofreduced emissions of 5 percent of1990 values in developed countries.Even if this goal is met, it is not stringent enough to preserve the polar bears' habitat. 2. Environmental Contaminants The Arctic is considered a "sink" for environmental contaminants. Mercury, organochlorines such as PCBs and DDT, and other toxins are carried northward in rivers, ocean currents, and the wind.These toxins accumulate at higher levels along the food chain.Researchers have found extremely high amounts of chemical pollutants in polar bears, the top Arctic predator, putting the bears in danger of bone mineral density loss, hormonal imbalance, physiological damage, and compromised immune systems.Bone mineral density loss is especially devastating in female polar bears, which must mobilize large amounts of calcium and phosphate during pregnancy and nursing. As an additional blow, the harmful effects of pollutants can interact negatively with the nutritional stress caused by global warming. 3. Development Meltingsea ice has resulted in the opening of the Arctic to tourism and mineral and energy development.As more people visit the Arctic, noise pollution and interactions with polar bears increase.Polar bears are harassed by photographers and tourists wanting to come closer. Yet when the bears are attracted to human camps by the smell of food, they may be perceived as a threat and killed. Oil and gas exploration is a growing threat to polar bears as well.Companies are eager to exploit the mineral reserves in the Arctic, but it comes at a great cost to the environment. 4. Hunting Because of their long lives and slow reproduction, polar bears rely on high adult survival rates to maintain their numbers. Over-hunting of adults can cause a catastrophic crash in population. Half of the 20 recognized populations of polar bears are currently threatened by potential over-hunting.The remainder may be over-hunted in the near future ifhunting quotas are not reduced.Subsistence hunting is permitted in Canada, Greenland and Alaska, and sport hunting is permitted in Canada and recently Greenland.The World Conservation Union Red List of Threatened Species cites "a potential risk of over-harvest due to increased quotas, excessive quotas or no quotas in Canada and Greenland and poaching in Russia." Although the United States prohibits non-subsistence hunting of polar bears under the Marine Mammal Protection Actand trophy hunting is arguably illegal under the International Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears, U.S. hunters are permitted to import the trophies from sport hunted polar bears from six Canadian populations—Southern Beaufort Sea, Northern Beaufort Sea, Western Hudson Bay, Lancaster Sound, Viscount Melville Sound, and Norwegian Bay. Declining populations in some areas have spurred the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Serviceto review the sustainability of hunting in these areas.Unfortunately, polar bears continue to be killed and imported into the United States while the Fish and Wildlife Service considers whether to lift its approvals for any of the six targeted populations.
Ute Kreitz
Protections Although the threats polar bears faceare grim, two recentprotection measuresare encouraging signs that the species may yet be saved:
  1. AUnited States lawpassed in 2006 to implement the U.S.-Russia bilateral agreement on polar bear conservation
  2. A proposal to list them as threatenedunder the Endangered Species Act
  • The U.S.-Russia Bilateral Agreement
In the United States, the Marine Mammal Protection Act was passed by Congress in 1972 to prevent the harassment, injuring, or killing of marine mammals, including the polar bear. In 1973, the devastation of polar bear populations from sport hunting prompted countries with polar bear populations—Canada, Denmark (on behalf of Greenland), Norway, the Soviet Union (now the Russian Federation), and the United States—to sign the International Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears.Along with provisions for habitat conservation and subsistence hunting, the agreement called for each country to develop a conservation program. In October, 2000, the Russian Federation and the United States negotiated a bilateral agreement on the Conservation and Management of the Alaska-Chukotka Polar Bear Population, which provided greater protections for the countries' shared population than found in the 1973 Agreement.The purpose of this bilateral agreement was to establish a joint management mechanism, particularly necessary to help curb poaching in Russia. The U.S.-Russia Bilateral Agreement on Polar Bear Conservation:
  • includes provisions for setting hunt quotas. Quotas are not required under the Marine Mammal Protection Act,the only restriction on subsistence hunts is that they must not be "wasteful";
  • prohibits the hunting of denning bears, females with cubs, and cubs under one year of age;
  • does not allow the use of aircraft, large motorized vehicles, snares or poison for hunting purposes;
  • allows for greater research opportunities;
  • restricts commercial uses of harvested polar bears to handicrafts by Native people;and
  • created a Polar Bear Commission to consider scientific information on polar bears, set annual hunt quotas, and recommend conservation measures.
On June 6, 2006, the Senate unanimously approved the United States-Russia Polar Bear Conservation and Management Implementation Act (S. 2013).This legislation amends the Marine Mammal Protection Act to allow the implementation of the bilateral agreement, and it specifies how two U.S. representatives—one from the federal government and one from the Alaska Native community—will be appointed to a Polar Bear Commission.On July 17, 2006, the House of Representatives passed similar implementing legislation (H.R. 4075).The two (which have minor differences) will be reconciled in conference and then sent to President Bush for his signature. Russia has already ratified the bilateral agreement and has a framework for its implementation. It has appointed its representative to the Commission.
  • The Endangered Species Act
In February 2005, the threat of extinction due to global warming prompted the Center for Biological Diversity, Greenpeace, and the Natural Resources Defense Council to file a petition in with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)to list the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.After conducting a status review,the FWS found the listing warrantedin December 2006 and solicited public comments for any final action. The Endangered Species Act describes an endangered species as one that "is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range."In order to be considered threatened; the polar bear must be "likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range."According to the IUCN Red List assessment, polar bear populations are predicted to decline by more than 30 percentwithin 45 years. Listing the polar bear under the ESA would force the U.S. government to take steps to protect this beleaguered species.Regulatory agencies would be required to take into account how their decisions affect polar bears, resulting in stricter pollution laws. According to the ESA petition, significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are imperative to ensure the survival of the iconic polar bear. Polar bears are rapidly losing their habitat to rising temperatures, environmental contaminants, and development.Additionally, unsustainable hunting is threatening some populations.To save the species, conservation measures must quickly be developed and implemented; listing the polar bear under the ESA would be a step in this direction.