Polar bears may be listed as threatened

NF Reporter · 12-27-2006, 02:10 PM

AP - Polar bears are in deep trouble because of global warming and other factors and deserve federal protection under the Endangered Species Act, the Bush administration is proposing Wednesday.

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waltky · 12-11-2007, 03:50 PM

Penguins may be threatened too...

Penguins feel the heat of climate change
December 11, 2007 - ANTARCTICA'S penguin population has slumped because of global warming as melting ice has destroyed nesting sites and reduced their sources of food, a WWF report says.

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The Antarctic peninsula was warming five times faster than the average in the rest of the world, affecting four penguin species - the emperor penguin, the largest and the grandest in the world, the gentoo, chinstrap and adelie, the report said. "The Antarctic penguins already have a long march behind them," said Anna Reynolds, deputy director of WWF's Global Climate Change Program. "Now it seems these icons of the Antarctic will have to face an extremely tough battle to adapt to the unprecedented rate of climate change."

The report - Antarctic Penguins and Climate Change - said sea ice covered 40 per cent less area than it did 26 years ago off the West Antarctic Peninsula, leading to a fall in stocks of krill, the main source of food for the chinstrap and gentoo penguins. On the northwestern coast of the Antarctic peninsula, where warming had been fastest, populations of adelie penguins had dropped 65 per cent over the past 25 years, it said. The number of chinstraps decreased by 30 to 66 per cent in some colonies, as less food made it more difficult for the young to survive. The emperor penguin had seen some of its colonies halve in size over the past half century.

Warmer temperatures and stronger winds mean the penguins had to raise their chicks on increasingly thinner sea ice which tends to break off early while many eggs and chicks have been blown away before they were able to survive on their own. Scientists have predicted that global temperatures could rise sharply this century, raising world sea levels and bringing more extreme weather. A 2005 study showed that most glaciers on the Antarctic peninsular were in headlong retreat because of climate change - and the speed was rising.

Scientists say most of the rest of the ice on the giant continent seems to be stable. "The food web of Antarctica, and thus the survival of penguins and many other species, is bound up in the future of the sea ice," said James Leape, director general of WWF International. "After such a long march to Bali, ministers must now commit to sharp reductions in carbon emissions for industrialised countries, to protect Antarctica and safeguard the health of the planet."

Penguins feel the heat of climate change | NEWS.com.au

waltky · 08-30-2008, 11:16 PM

Sarah Palin on polar bears...

Leaving Polar Bears Out in the Cold - 10 Facts About Sarah Palin
30 Aug.`08 - In January, Sarah Palin wrote in a New York Times op-ed piece, "[polar bears] are worthy of our utmost efforts to protect them and their Arctic habitat.

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But adding polar bears to the nation's list of endangered species, as some are now proposing, should not be part of those efforts." In May, the Alaskan governor opposed the Interior Department's listing the polar bear as threatened, and prompted the ire of environmentalists and animal rights activists. In August, Palin, who has long advocated opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, rallied her fellow Alaskan officials to sue Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, arguing that extending protection to the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act is unwarranted and will hinder Alaska's gas industry and offshore drilling development.

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