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| A Polar Scare by: Stephanie Jelenic Deb Don’t let their thick claws or dagger teeth fool you, polar bears can be quite social. They are the rulers of the Arctic circle, but sadly America’s polar bears could be gone in as few as 50 years. Polar bears posses a rare and interesting quality; they hold the record for the biggest feet in the bear family. But like most other bears they also posses a common trait, they exist in relatively small populations and have low reproductive rates. Only a quarter of the female bears become pregnant in a given year. The coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge is the nation's most important onshore polar bear denning habitat. Pregnant females come ashore to build an ice den and give birth to cubs. About |
| 40% of the dens used by the Beaufort Sea population in Alaska are onshore and more than 60% of these are on the Arctic Coastal Plain. Since polar bear dens are very hard to locate, there is really no way to avoid disturbing them with human activity, such as drilling. Once they are disturbed, polar bears may abandon their dens, leaving their cubs to die. Proposals to drill oil in the Arctic Refuge are the reason our polar bears could vanish. In other words, oil companies and their allies are willing to trade our polar bears for oil. Some people claim that a good reason to drill oil in the Arctic refuge is the ongoing instability in Iraq and the Middle East. They |
| claim that we could do this by drilling our own oil. A problem with this is that oil drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge does not guarantee to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. In fact, oil drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge might do little or nothing at all to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Polar bears will have a hard enough time trying to survive due to other issues such as Global Warming, without the added stress of oil drilling. Energy experts agree that making cars more fuel-efficient is the single most effective thing the U.S. can do right now to decrease dependence on foreign oil, so why do oil companies still want to drill in polar bear habitat? Oil companies claim they can reduce the environmental impacts of the drilling through limiting their activity to winter only. Unfortunately, December through early January is the period when females are within their dens. At this time their cubs only weigh 1-2 pounds, they do not typically leave their dens until late March or April when their cubs are at a weight of about 15 pounds. Another possible problem that can come from the oil drilling is spills of oil and toxic chemicals in the polar bear habitat. When we think about polar bears, we typically associate them with snow, but these beautiful bears are also great swimmers. They have exceptional speed and endurance in the water, so polar bears are also vulnerable to any spills that may occur in the sea. The oil can accumulate in the open water where polar bears concentrate for feeding. In addition to this, there are currently no effective methods for removing oil from ice-covered waters. So if there were a spill, the polar bears would be exposed to it. Drilling in the Artic Refuge would threaten the most important land-based habitat that America’s polar bears have left. You can take action online to list the polar bear as threatened and save the artic refuge at https://action.defenders. org/permanentprotection . Polar bears in other regions besides the U.S are under serious threat as well. The effects of poisons and pollutants, and the major effects of global warming are contributing factors. These threats could also have a serious impact on the Beaufort Sea population. The best means of protecting the population is through habitat protection. So, don’t forget about our other arctic friends. To help save all of the polar bears please visit: |
| http://www.nrdconline.org/campaign/ Act_Now_To_Stop_Global_ Warming |
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