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All Polar Bears Articles
Polar bears and grizzly bears, two mighty beasts of the Canadian wilderness, could soon be battling over territory. Hungry grizzly bears are increasingly encroaching on their northern counterparts' territory in Northern Manitoba, according to experts.
Biologists affiliated with the American Museum of Natural History and City College of the City University of New York have found that grizzly bears are roaming into what was traditionally thought of as polar bear habitat -- and into the Canadian province of Manitoba, where they are officially listed as extirpated. The preliminary data was recently published in Canadian Field Naturalist and shows that sightings of Ursus arctos horribilis in Canada's Wapusk National Park are recent and appear to be increasing in frequency.
An environmental group is distributing hundreds of thousands of free condoms with hopes that it will educate the public about the impact of human overpopulation on endangered species. The condoms are enclosed in colorful packaging bearing images of endangered species like polar bears, jaguars and the Puerto Rico rock frog. The images are accompanied by slogans like "Wrap with care, save the polar bear," and "Cover your tweedle, save the burying beetle."
Nunavut's environment minister has rejected a wildlife regulator's recommendation for how many polar bears should be hunted in the Baffin Bay region.
The current quota allows the killing of 105 bears a year in the region, which stretches from Baffin Island in Nunavut to northern Greenland.
The territorial government asked the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board in 2008 to consider a smaller bear harvest or a hunting moratorium in the region.
Kevin Burke was guiding a group of tourists along the shores of western Hudson Bay in late November when he spotted six bears in the distance.
Initially, he didn't know what to make of the small female among them that was bluff-charging a bigger bear in a stand of willows. But once the tundra vehicle got up close, he quickly discovered why the animals were so excited.
"First, I saw the pool of blood on the icy pond. Then I saw a male bear with something in its mouth. And then, when it turned towards us, I realized, 'Uh-oh, that's the head of a cub.' The mother was desperately trying to save it, while the rest of the bears were trying to get in on the action and feed on the remains. It was all over by that point. There was almost nothing left of it when we got there."
Callers to Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.'s polar bear hotline have spoken and they're saying bear populations are booming. Paul Irngaut, a wildlife advisor with NTI, said he's interviewed 35 hunters through the hotline. They report signs of climate change, including thinning sea ice, but say that polar bears are adapting to the changes-and thriving, Irngaut said. "Yes climate change is happening, but [hunters] don't feel it's going to have a negative impact on polar bears," Irngaut said Monday. "Polar bears hunt on land, they hunt on open water."
A long-term study showing the changes in habitat associations of polar bears in response to sea ice conditions in the southern Beaufort Sea has implications for polar bear management in Alaska.
What happened to the two polar bear cubs left orphaned last month after a stranded Nunavut teen shot their mother in self-defence is still unknown. For a time, the cubs refused to abandon the carcass of their mother, according to one of the pilots who was involved in the rescue of 17-year-old Jupi Angootealuk.
For the second time in four years, health authorities in France have identified an outbreak of the parasitical illness trichinosis from an unusual source: bear meat devoured by French travellers in northern Canada. The grizzly that ended up as steaks, stew and even "grizzly-bear Bolognese" had been threatening an Inuit camp on the Nunavut shore when it was shot by rangers, with the carcass later divided up among locals and visitors.
A polar bear carved from nine-ton block of ice has been placed outside the conference centre where world leaders are meeting for the Copenhagen climate change summit.
The U.S. government violated the Endangered Species Act by failing to curb use of pesticides that have been accumulating in the Arctic food chain and in the fat of polar bears, a species listed as threatened, environmentalists charged in a lawsuit on Thursday.
Keynotes address on polar bear-human conflict presented at 3rd International Bear-People Conflicts Workshop, Canmore, Alberta, Canada, November, 2009.
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