Thrive During Warm Times
Polar bears have thrived during warmer climates because they areomnivores, like their cousins the brown and black bears. Though polarbears eat seals more than any other food source, research shows theyhave a varied diet. When other foods are available--including fish,kelp, caribou, ducks, sea birds, musk ox, and walrus carcasses--theytake advantage of it.

Dr. Mitchell Taylor, a biologist with Nunavut Territorial governmentin Canada, pointed out in testimony to the U.S. Fish and WildlifeService that modest warming may be beneficial to bears since it createsbetter habitat for seals and would dramatically increase growth ofblueberries, upon which bears gorge themselves when available.

Taylor explained Alaska's polar bear population is stable and recentresearch shows the polar bear population in Canada alone has increased25 percent from 12,000 to 15,000 during the past decade, with 11 ofCanada's 13 polar bear populations stable or increasing in number.Where polar bear weight and numbers are declining, Taylor thinks thecause is too many bears competing for food, not Arctic warming.

Climate scientist David Legates said shrinking Arctic sea ice may bea temporary, local phenomenon not linked to global warming, especiallyas the polar ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are not in decline.

"Russian coastal-station records of both the extent of sea ice andthe thickness of fast ice (ice fixed to the shoreline or seafloor)extending back 125 years show significant variability over 60- to80-year periods," said Legates.

Enviro Group Refutes Alarmism
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has written on the threats allegedlyposed to polar bears from global warming. According to the WWF, thereare approximately 22,000 polar bears in about 20 distinct populationsworldwide. Only two bear populations--accounting for about 16.4 percentof the total number of bears--are decreasing, and they are in areaswhere air temperatures have actually fallen, such as the Baffin Bayregion.

By contrast, another two populations--about 13.6 percent of thetotal number--are growing, and they live in areas where airtemperatures have risen, near the Bering Strait and the Chukchi Sea.

As for the rest, 10 populations representing about 45.4 percent ofthe total number of bears are stable, and the status of the remainingsix populations is unknown.

Ulterior Motives
Many analysts see the proposal to list the polar bear as threatenedas not so much about the welfare of the bears themselves but as aneffort to force the Bush administration to adopt regulations to limitgreenhouse gas emissions.

Steven Milloy, publisher of JunkScience.com and an adjunct scholarwith the National Center for Policy Analysis, said the media attentionat the Kempthorne news conference did not revolve around whether thebears were actually at risk, but rather whether the announcement meant"the Bush administration was caving on global warming."

Milloy noted, "If the administration admits that the bear is dyingdue to climate change, it may be forced to start energy rationing toreduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to comply with the EndangeredSpecies Act. This is what the environmentalists filing the lawsuit hadin mind all along." Source