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The Endangerment of Polar Bears

The Endangerment of Polar Bears


In the past years, Coca-Cola has used polar bears as its cute and lovable characters prancing happily, especially during Christmas time. But does anyone know the real story about these mammals? How are they now? This is what this paper would tackle about thoroughly. It will discuss on these key issues: where are polar bears becoming endangered, how polar bears are becoming permanently endangered or worse, extinct; why are polar bears endangered; the different international associations that fight for the cause of the polar bears and; the various international laws that help protect polar bears.
A polar bear is a huge white mammal of the North. Almost all of them reside in areas where there are large caps of ice floating and encapsulates the North Pole. They reside mainly in the northern coasts of Canada, Greenland, Norway, the United States and the former Union Soviet Socialist Republics (Polar Bear 1989). Polar bears' hide help them combat the cold weather and often times, they have more issues with overheating. Even in very cold weather, they instantly overheat when they run. They primarily live in dens during frigid months and a pregnant female polar bear would give birth in late November or early December (Polar Bear 1989). Polar bears in the wild usually live up to 33 years while those who are in captivity may live longer. As for food, polar bears generally eat ringed seals and sometimes, the bearded seals. At times, they also hunt for walrus, beluga whales and short-legged reindeer.

Polar bears are also known as one of nature's supreme survivors as they can reside and flourish in one of the world's most unforgiving and frigid environments.

The five countries mentioned earlier are dubbed as the polar bear nations that have agreed to safeguard the creatures' territories like the dens, feeding vicinities and migratory paths. At the same time, these polar bear nations have sworn to prohibit hunting from an airplane and huge motorized boats, perform and work closely in administration and research efforts and share research results.

To date, there are a number of ways how the polar bears are endangered or threatened that make situations difficult for these creatures. The most pressing concern now is the global warming that causes the melting of the ice caps in the regions where the polar bears reside. According to Greenpeace, the polar bear may turn into the first mammal to be included in the endangered animals list due to global warming. When the floating pack of ice melts, polar bears could only swim until they give in to exhaustion. As huge territories of icebergs disappear, the habitat of the polar bears would also follow (Jones 2005). At the same time, pollution is also included in the issues that polar bears face. Due to massive chemical pollution in the areas where these mammals live, polar bear cubs survival are diminishing at an alarming rate.

Another reason why polar bears die is because of starvation. Adolescent polar bears that are inexperienced hunters are often chased from kills by larger adults. On the other hand, older and weaker bears are prone to starvation. At the same time, food resources are dwindling due to less accessibility. There are seals residing in Hudson Bay but it has been found out that the ice in the area is breaking up earlier than usual. Hence, polar bears have lesser food to hunt and are going back to areas with poorer condition. The body mass for both the male and female polar bears is decreasing and polar bear cubs are getting fewer as days pass by. In addition, the sea ice season in Hudson Bay have been decreased by three weeks over the last twenty years. It has been said that the shorter season could be a result of a long-term warming tendency.

There are also polar bears that suffer from many skin diseases such as dermatitis that are caused by mites or other parasites. Worms have caused many parasitic ailments and others are seen as one of the primary causes of disease and death in the wild. There are also times wherein excess heavy metals like ethylene glycol (Wikpedia 9) cause poisoning. Polar bears that are exposed to oil and petroleum products and other toxic chemicals that are shipped out to the Artic by air or by see lose their insulation protection, thus, they need to enhance their metabolism rates to keep warm that is a problem to polar because they are having difficulties in hunting for food. In addition, oil spills in the territories where polar bears live decreases and pollute polar bear food sources.
The population of the polar bears, estimated to be around 22,000 to 27,000, in some regions have also been diminished by hunting on these creatures, which is still one of the huge causes of polar bear death. The polar bears that were hunted are those in North America, Eastern Russia and Greenland. The polar bear population in Barents Sea and western and central Russia are not hunted (Wikipedia 10).

Though there are areas where polar bear hunting is either regulated or prohibited, there are also polar bear territories where the native people are still allowed to hunt for these mammals in the United States, Canada and Greenland for their fur and meet. For instance, for thousands of years, the Inuit people of Canada and the United States have never over-hunted polar bears due to the danger that polar bears can bring and at those times, the weapons that people use were very primitive (Great Bear Foundation 1).

The number of polar bears in the five countries have also decreased due to the destruction of their habitats. Currently, the Artic is being explored for its mineral resources and are in danger of pollution and mining of petrochemicals. It is unknown to up to how much the polar bears are affected by these activities. There are also possible issues that include corruption of ice, water, food species and polar bears by toxic chemicals, pollutants and nuclear waste.

In ancient times, the Inuit tribes of Canada and the United States killed polar bears for food, clothing, bedding and religious reasons. There were even those who commercially hunt for polar bears for their hides, handicrafts and sale of skins though there were also those who killed these creatures in defense of people or property. At present, many hunt on polar bears using snowmobiles, boats and airplanes to capture and kill these mammals and are used for trophies.

In other areas, these creatures are hunted because of their huge quantities of bile, which is commonly used in medicine. In addition, they are also captured and killed for their gall bladders and other body parts.

Currently, many international associations have different declarations regarding polar bears. First, there is the United States Department of Interior that proposed that polar bears should be included in the endangered species list on December 23, 2006 (Wikipedia 5), where the main cause is global warming. Second and third, Canadian Wildlife Service and the US Fish Wildlife Service that both state that polar bears are just threatened species (Wikipedia 7). Fourth, the Greenpeace USA, an environmental organization that considers industrial activity as the cause of global warming, initiated a national television advertising campaign to inform the public about the polar bears' predicament. Fifth, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources/World Conservation Union that ties various government bodies, non-government bodies and independent states together to promote a worldwide approach to conservation (Wikipedia 9). Sixth, the United Nations (UN) launched an environment programme that aims to work with different governments to determine of specially protected areas for different animal wildlife across the globe (United Nations 1 – Threatened by Global Warming). Another programme UN launched was the development programme that has the goal of working with local communities in the far north of Russia to safeguard areas where polar bears reside (United Nations 1 – Threatened by Global Warming). Lastly, the Natural Resources Defense Council, together with the Greenpeace and Center for Biological Diversity, declares that the polar bear is the primary the creature to be greatly affected by global warming (Wikipedia 9).

The different international agencies mentioned above have drafted laws and that help safeguard the welfare of the polar bears. Four of them are the following: one, the United States Marine Mammal Protection Act, which was implemented in 1972 (Wikipedia 8) that has a main goal of managing the health and stability of the marine environment and administer an acceptable balance in the marine wildlife; two, the International Agreement on Conservation of Polar Bears and Their Habitat (Wikipedia 8), which was enforced in 1973, that ensures the polar bear nations to work hand in hand in protecting these creatures. At the same time, by this law, all these countries have drafted their individual rules and conservation practices using the know-how gained from the international community as a whole; three, the Polar Bear Protection Act of Manitoba states that people should render every effort imaginable to help and protect polar bears and their habitats safe from corruption and; four, the Antarctic Treaty that aims to safeguard native birds, mammals and plants in the Antarctic region.

After exploring thoroughly where polar bears are in danger, how the polar bear is fast becoming endangered or threatened and why their numbers are dwindling, one can conclude that polar bear species need the help of all the people in the world more than ever.
It is not enough to just wait for the government to take action, wait for other people to voice out their ideologies and belief regarding this matter or worse, completely ignore the issue. People should be proactive and not reactive here. What people can do is to help clean the environment even those who are far from the regions where polar bears live since one of the main causes in the depletion in the polar bear population is global warming. Furthermore, people should also take active part in writing to key government officials such as a congressman on these important issues and help in environmental campaigns. At the same time, people should inspire others to take part in this very noble cause. If people unite in protecting the environment, then, there is still hope in saving all the creatures of this world.




References

Great Bear Foundation, pub. Conserving Bears and Habitats Worldwide. 1-2, 29 January 2007, <http://www.greatbearfoundation.org>
Jones, Susan (2005). Global Warming Is the Real Thing, Says Ad Featuring Polar Bears. 1-3, 29 January 2007, < http://www.cnsnews.com/news/viewstory.asp?Page=%5CCulture%5Carchive%5C200512%5CCUL20051213a.html>
Polar Bear, Wikipedia. 1-10 29 December 2007, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_Bear>
United Nations, pub. Threatened by Global Warming, 1-3, 29 January 2007, <http://www.un.org>
World Book, Inc., pub. The World Book Encyclopedia, volume 15, 1989
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Posted by: SANDBERG FAITH SMITH

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