"Too Many Polar Bears, Somebody Better Tell Markey !"

[megimoo]

Canada's Growing Polar Bear Population 'Becoming a Problem,' Locals say

"This legislation announced today by Chairman Markey will give polar bears desperately needed protection,"

Polar bears, the lumbering carnivores of the arctic, continue to be the poster bear – er, child – for global warmers everywhere who are convinced the baby seal munchers are being driven to extinction by man’s irresponsible release of CO2 into the atmosphere.

Next to whales, the cuddly fur balls enjoy a special place on the “Animals to Love” list. Grown-ups adore them (provided it’s from a safe distance), and grade-school kids who can’t find Greenland or Manitoba on a map raid their penny jars to save them.

But are the denizens of the deep north facing extinction? Are they...

http://www.examiner.com/x-32936-Semi...-News-Examiner

[megimoo]

Polar Bear Protection Legislation to Be Introduced
Author: Center for Biological Diversity

"Markey Needs A New Spotted Critter To Protect !"

At yesterday's hearing before the U.S. House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, Chairman Edward J. Markey announced he is drafting legislation to protect the polar bear from oil and gas development in the Chukchi Sea. The bill would require the Minerals Management Service to postpone a scheduled oil and gas lease sale in 46,000 square miles of polar bear habitat in the Chukchi Sea until after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has issued a final listing determination for the polar bear and designated its critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act.

"This legislation announced today by Chairman Markey will give polar bears desperately needed protection," said Kassie Siegel, director of the Center for Biological Diversity's Climate, Air and Energy Program, who testified at today's hearing. "In addition to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, we must protect polar bears from direct impacts like oil spills. Chairman Markey and the members of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming have shown inspirational leadership on this issue."

The new legislation was announced at a hearing this morning probing into the Bush administration's delay of the decision to list the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act while expediting oil and gas development in prime polar bear habitat.

On January 9, 2008, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service missed the legal deadline to issue a final listing decision for the polar bear-a listing deadline prompted by a petition and lawsuit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, Natural Resources Defense Council ("NRDC"), and Greenpeace. At the same time, the Minerals Management Service has scheduled oil and gas lease sales for 46,000 square miles of polar bear habitat in the Chukchi Sea for February 6. Holding the lease sale prior to the listing of the polar bear would mean the leases would be sold prior to review under Endangered Species Act that will be required once the polar bear is listed, and has outraged conservationists and lawmakers alike.

"The only thing keeping pace with the melting of the sea ice is the breakneck speed with which the Department of the Interior is rushing to approve oil and gas activities in polar bear habitat," said Siegel at today's hearing. "This oil and gas sale must not proceed, because the impacts to polar bears have not been considered."
http://yubanet.com/usa/Polar-Bear-Pr...ed_printer.php

...............................
Polar Bear Scare on Thin Ice
'
" New Headlines 'Polar Bears Are Freezing Their Asses OFF' !!"

“Global warming could cause polar bears to go extinct by the end of the century by eroding the sea ice that sustains them,” is the dire warning contained in a new report from an international group of "researchers" called the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment.

I’m not quite sure what the future holds for polar bears (search), but it doesn’t appear that any alleged manmade global warming has anything to do with it.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,138346,00.html

[lacarnut]

We need more fur ball rugs and less oil regulations. Dummies have it ass backwards.

[dogtowner]

there are far more today than 20 years ago and they are NOT friendly

they are large, hungry and encroaching on civilization.

trouble brewing...

[Gingersnap]

Typical lefty elitism: let's not listen to all the people who actually live there all the time.

[dogtowner]

Typical lefty elitism: let's not listen to all the people who actually live there all the time.

Or even the people responsible for monitoring them.

Its only people who have nothing to do with them that are behind this.

Its a public health nightmare in the making for Alaska. And people will go to prison for protecting their families by shooting these predators.

Just wait till some kids get eaten (God forbid). The shit may finally hit the fan then.

[PoliCon]

there are far more today than 20 years ago and they are NOT friendly

they are large, hungry and encroaching on civilization.

trouble brewing...

Civilization? in CANADA??? :eek:

[PoliCon]

Typical lefty elitism: let's not listen to all the people who actually live there all the time.

yup. I recently watched a documentary that sums up these idiots rather nicely. It's call MINE YOUR OWN BUSINESS.

http://www.mineyourownbusiness.org/ The same people have another one out that I've on order - NOT EVIL JUST WRONG which deals with AGW. I'm looking forward to seeing it.

[Rockntractor]

The other other white meat.

[megimoo]

The other other white meat.

Churchill, Manitoba (1996) Polar Bear Weekend

People who live in White Bear Lake seem to be attracted to polar bears. It goes with the address. Most homes have a polar bear replica on their lawn or on the coffee table. We have a couple dozen on our window ledge. It follows then that when we had a chance to go to Churchill to see the real polar bears, we couldn't pass it up.

Churchill is the site of the annual convention of polar bears as they gather in late October and early November every year waiting to go back out onto the polar ice to begin their annual seal hunting season. Located on the western shore of Hudson Bay, Churchill is a remote little town just over a thousand miles north of the Twin Cities. The population is about a thousand people but grows to twice that size during the polar bear season

There are no roads into Churchill. The only access is by air and train. We chose the latter and flew to Thompson, Manitoba, where we met John and Kirsten Gibson and their friends, Richard and Barbara Redden and boarded the overnight train to Churchill.

The train ride was itself an adventure traveling with all the native Inuit people on board heading home after a day in the city to their small, whistle-stop villages along the isolated track. We had our first glimpse of the frozen tundra was when we raised the shades in our sleeping compartment the next morning and watched the sun rise over the desolate yet strangely beautiful landscape of the Arctic north.

This annual polar bear watching event is drawing an increasing number of tourists from all over the world each fall and requires reservation a year or more in advance.

We were very fortunate to be hosted by the Redden's daughter and her husband, who have been living in Churchill since shortly after their June wedding. Glen is a recent medical school graduate, who chose to fulfill his six month, rural service obligation by heading up a medical clinic serving the Churchill area.

Allison is a recent nursing school graduate and works with Glen at the clinic on a part time basis. They live in a comfortable apartment near the clinic and were able to arrange to make a next door apartment available to us for our stay.

SNIP

But back to the bears. As a marine mammal, the polar bear spends eight months of each year roaming over the polar ice feeding on seals. When the ice breaks up in the July, they are forced back on shore to their denning areas to wait out the summer.

Without any land-based food sources, the bears often lose several hundred pounds of body weight as they wait for the ice to freeze over again.

In late October, they begin to congregate again near Churchill where, because of the influx of fresh water from the Churchill River and other geographical factors, the ice tends to form first.

The polar bear population grows to upwards of two thousand bears and presents a unique opportunity for viewing this superb animal. It is the only place in the world where such a concentration polar bears occurs.

http://www.acktravels.com/churchil.htm