A polar bear on melting sea ice photo: ame naevra
In May of 2008, polar bears were listed as threatened on the Endangered Species Act and now the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service just made an announcement that it proposing to set aside 128 million acres of land as protected habitat for the polar bears. Unfortunately these 2 actions were supposed to occur at the same time by law, but didn’t, so now environmental group are filing lawsuits with the Department of the Interior. And the DOI will make a final ruling on this matter no latter than than June 10, 2010.
The proposed areas in question include large portions of the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas which are essential to the polar bears survival as they provide the hunting and breeding grounds for these animals once they become sea ice. Sadly, as we all know, global warming has become a huge problem and now the sea ice is melting. That and the oil and gas companies want to come in to these key areas and conduct exploratory drilling which could devastate the habitat and endanger the species even more.
Click here to read more about this issue on the Sierra Club’s website and how you can help.
