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Save the Polar Bear
Time is running out for Alaska's polar bears. According to government scientists, these magnificent animals could be extinct in less than 50 years - unless we act now to protect them and the Arctic ocean habitat they depend on for their survival.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has an historic opportunity on January 8 to do the right thing: add the polar bear to the list of Endangered Species, and designate "critical habitat" necessary for the polar bear's survival in Arctic lands and waters. Please urge Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to protect the polar bear and its habitat.
Add your comments to our letter below, then click on Send this Message.
| Sample Letter for Campaign |
Subject: List the Polar Bear as Threatened or Endangered
Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,
Alaska's polar bears are in trouble, and I am writing to ask for your help. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service scientists agree that global warming, toxins in the food chain, and disturbances caused by oil and gas drilling in Arctic ecosystems are combining to threaten the polar bear as never before. A much-publicized recent estimate by U.S. Geological Survey scientists predicts the possible extinction of Alaska's polar bear population as early as 2050. We cannot let this happen.
On January 8, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must decide whether to list the polar bear as Threatened or Endangered under the Endangered Species Act. I urge you to grant the polar bear the highest level of protection available under ESA - and to grant that protection without delay.
Furthermore, I urge FWS to designate as "critical habitat" the lands and waters needed for the polar bear's continued survival. Imminent pressures to lease Arctic waters for oil and gas exploration and drilling will only increase the stresses on a species that is already imperiled by the effects of global warming and melting Arctic ice. It would be irresponsible to list the polar bear without also designating the critical habitat necessary for it to survive.
You have an opportunity to do the right thing. Please list the polar bear, and designate critical habitat for its protection, on January 8.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
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Campaign Launched:
December 19, 2007
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The polar bear, at the top of the Arctic food chain, faces a "perfect storm" of challenges - nearly all of them man-made - that threaten its survival. The chief threat: a warming polar climate that has caused an alarming loss of sea ice. Other threats include toxic chemicals in the food chain, and disturbances caused by oil and gas development. With the Bush Administration determined to sell more and more oil and gas leases in Arctic waters - with the first sales taking place as early as February 2008 - threats to polar bear habitat are more urgent than ever before.
Alaska's polar bears spend most of their lives on sea ice in the Arctic Ocean waters of the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas off Alaska's coast. It is in these waters, shared with Canada and Russia, that they hunt for the seals that are their chief prey. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the "rapid and unprecedented retreat of Arctic sea ice (including earlier spring melt, later fall freeze-up, and overall thinner ice) could lead to an ice-free Arctic Ocean within the foreseeable future." Since polar bears live on sea ice for a majority of the year, and depend on sea-ice habitats for their survival, global warming could cause a catastrophic collapse of polar bear populations. The same warming conditions that threaten polar bears also pose a threat to many other Arctic species, including the bowhead whales that migrate thousands of miles to feast on the abundant food found only in cold Arctic waters.
If we are to protect Alaska's remaining polar bears from almost certain extinction - something government scientists say could happen as early as 2050 - immediate action is needed to list the polar bear as "Threatened" or "Endangered" under the Endangered Species Act. In addition, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) must designate and protect "critical habitat" for the bears. Rather than allowing more and more of Alaska's Arctic region to be opened to oil exploration, FWS must declare these fragile coastal lands and waters to be "critical habitat" that is off limits to the oil companies' greed. At the same time FWS must assure that the native communities who rely on polar bears, bowhead whales, and other Arctic species for their subsistence way of life can continue in their traditional, centuries-old relationship to the land and sea.
On January 8, 2008, FWS must choose among three options: immediately add the polar bear to the Endangered Species List, decide not to list the polar bear, or delay any decision for six months. For the polar bear, there is only one choice: immediate listing as Threatened or Endangered.
Please act now to urge Interior Secretary Kempthorne to do the right thing on January 8.
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