Polar Bear Supporters Lose Court Case

Another story from last week, but worth mentioning. From KTUU in Anchorage...

A federal appeals court made a final decision Wednesday on whether Fish and Wildlife could allow oil companies to interfere with polar bears.

The complaint is that the government isn't doing enough to protect marine animals from the effects of oil and gas development...

The Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit because it felt the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service wrongfully issued authorization for oil companies to work in areas that could potentially hurt the bears.

They claimed Fish and Wildlife failed to consider effects of climate change and had a false idea of how many polar bears would be affected.

But the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court's decision allowing the Fish and Wildlife Service to issue its own regulations on incidental take.

Incidental take, in this case, is the killing or harassing of polar bears resulting from oil and gas operations on the Beaufort Sea coast.

Sucks to be a Walrus Nowadays

Global warming is screwing walruses over...and it could get worse as their ice disappears.

More Arctic Species in Trouble

Global warming and climate change (aren't they one and the same thing?) are wreaking havoc on Arctic species.

Trophy Hunters Imperil Polar Bears

I have no sympathy for trophy hunters. They are not hunting for food or for any subsistence whatsoever. It's all about the thrill of the hunt and, sorry to say it, the thrill of the testosterone surge. Perhaps there are female trophy hunters out there too, but I suspect they are in the minority.

Therefore, to me it's a slam dunk as to whether trophy hunters should continue to hunt polar bears. If a species' very survival is threatened, then it is impractical to hunt it for mere entertainment. Every member counts. And I don't believe the argument that Inuit villages will collapse without the revenue from these hunts.

The cost of a trophy hunt can start at $35,000.

Walrus in Trouble Too

I'm finally getting caught up on some reading and came across this article in the Defenders of Wildlife wildlife. I'm very proud of supporting Defenders because I think they do great work and they have a really good magazine too. Very depressing sometimes though.

The summer issue had a good article about walruses. Surprisingly, they are overlooked in discussions of Arctic species threatened by global warming. We tend to talk about penguins and polar bears, but these guys are important too.

Luckily, I found the article online.

Battle for Control of the Arctic Looms

WONK ALERT! The Arctic, and foreign claims to it, are discussed in this dense piece by globalsecurity.org. It will probably make your head spin. Suffice to say that untapped oil reserves are at stake. AND the Arctic is getting even more accessible due to global warming (knew it would be good for something!) Canada, Russia, the US, Denmark [via Greenland] and Norway want a piece of it.

Will control of the Arctic become another national security issue? And how will this new "cold war" affect the wildlife there? Will they become just another resource to exploit (even more so than now?)

Stay tuned and stay aware.

Arctic Ice Melting at Stunning Rate

Bad news for those Arctic species.

Start Paying Attention to the Arctic

Supposedly, there's a hell of a lot of oil and gas in the Arctic and everyone's salivating over it. The US might even ratify the Law of the Sea treaty to get a fair shot at the prizes up north.

Animal rights and environmental advocates need to pay attention to this. Look who lives in the Arctic: polar bear - caribou - musk ox - wolf - wolverine - arctic fox - ermine - lemming - arctic hare - arctic ground squirrel - birds - whales - harp seal - walrus.

Here's a great article giving an overview of the politics. Alaskan Senator Lisa Murkowski is pushing for treaty ratification. Always watch out when Alaska is in support of something.