Lynda Hansen
Some 3000 polar bears live around the Arctic Barents Sea off northern Europe. The first bear population census conducted by Russian, British and Norwegian researchers showed that polar bear numbers in the region were at the bottom of previous rough estimates of 3000 to 5000.
The total is about 12% of an estimated global population of 25,000 polar bears. An eight-nation report in November 2004, the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, said that the Arctic is warming at twice the rate of the rest of the planet due to global warming. This is blamed by most scientists on a build-up of heat-trapping gases from burning fossil fuels. These conditions are shortening polar bear hibernation cycles.
The report, researched by 250 scientists, projected that polar bears could be driven to extinction by 2100 because polar ice might almost disappear during summers. Separate studies have shown relatively high levels of a banned "dirty dozen" of chemicals in the region, some of which can cause cancers in the fat of polar bears. The chemicals, including pesticides, are swept north by winds from Europe and North America.
According to the January 21 ABC Online, Greenland's government does not want to wait for polar bears to become extinct, it wants tourists to murder them now. Greenland is planning to organise polar bear hunts for rich tourists, who will be allowed to take home the bear skins as trophies. The local government is hoping this "unique holiday experience" will bolster the faltering economy in the north-west by creating jobs for hunting guides.
During the 1980s and '90s, high-profile environment groups led successful international campaigns to halt the culling of harp seals. Due to these massive awareness campaigns the Harp Seal is now a protected species. Millions of people around the world were horrified to see images of seals being clubbed to death with a nail through the head — these scenes were beamed into many lounge rooms.
What is needed now is a campaign to save the polar bears, who remain at the top of the Arctic food chain. Their possible extinction, whether by murder or environmental conditions, will signal serious consequences for the rest of the fragile eco system in the region.
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, February 2, 2005.
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