At recent meeting of the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC), biologists decided to continue to list the polar bear as a species of ‘Special Concern.’ About 2/3 of the world’s polar bears live in Canada and the balance of all evidence (including Inuit knowledge) indicate the bears are not threatened with extinction. The bears have held this statussince 1991.
Details from the 3 December 2018 press release below.
“To hunt seals, its most important food source, these bears use sea-ice and some of the same sit-and-wait techniques familiar to ice fishers. Predictions for longer and longer ice-free Arctic summers will make seal hunting much more difficult for Polar Bear.
However, Inuit, who know the species well, are cautiously optimistic, suggesting that the bear’s adaptability may save it, even if seals become more difficult to capture.
In its assessment, COSEWIC took account both of…
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