Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts

[DesertFox]

SCIENTISTS have for the first time found evidence that polar bears are drowning because climate change is melting the Arctic ice shelf.

The researchers were startled to find bears having to swim up to 60 miles across open sea to find food. They are being forced into the long voyages because the ice floes from which they feed are melting, becoming smaller and drifting farther apart.

Although polar bears are strong swimmers, they are adapted for swimming close to the shore. Their sea journeys leave them them vulnerable to exhaustion, hypothermia or being swamped by waves.

According to the new research, four bear carcases were found floating in one month in a single patch of sea off the north coast of Alaska, where average summer temperatures have increased by 2-3C degrees since 1950s.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1938132,00.html

[DesertFox]

And I thought a polar bear could swim forever.

[Antigone]

Since polar bears do this all the time (swim from place to place) wouldn't the law of averages pretty much account for the fact that SOME of 'em are gonna die regardless??

[Patriot Heart]

Well if it's Libs counting, one becomes Four, two would be Eight, you know.......

[Teenager]

Cycle in weather patterns. Nothing more. Dems don't seem to understand this.

Furthermore, we can't save every polar bear. Nature does her duty. Polar bears live, and Polars bears die.

Simple. Really.

[nene]

Always wanted to eat a polar bear burger and watch tv while laying on a polar bear carpet. Maybe one will float into the Gulf Coast the next time I make it down to Galveston.

[DesertFox]

I always wanted to see a fight between a polar bear in the water and a shark. I know the shark would win, but wonder how much damage the bear could inflict before becoming supper.

Also always wondered which would win in a fight between a Siberian tiger and any kind of big bear.

[Naturalized-Texan]

It's all Bush's fault.

[Merlin]

I don`t think polar bears are in danger of extinction otherwise they would have disappeared off the face of the Earth during the Medieval warming period. This occured around the time the Vikings set up colonies in Greenland and flourished for several centuries until they were wiped out by a dramatic shift in climate and it became colder again. Like i said on another thread, the Earth`s climate never stands still and never has done so. That`s why we`ve had tons of ice iges in the past 2 million years alone.

[sunsettommy]

I don`t think polar bears are in danger of extinction otherwise they would have disappeared off the face of the Earth during the Medieval warming period. This occured around the time the Vikings set up colonies in Greenland and flourished for several centuries until they were wiped out by a dramatic shift in climate and it became colder again. Like i said on another thread, the Earth`s climate never stands still and never has done so. That`s why we`ve had tons of ice iges in the past 2 million years alone.

:djd:

Must you make sense.It is pitiful that you can make a logical point that GW's miss.

I have questions about the article since they clearly show how little information they really have on the Polar Bear migration and population shifts.They seem to concentrate on the amount of surface ice only and that means they leave out or ignore the food source itself.

The misleading claims about shrinking ice continues.Just recently we read that almost all of the shrinking of the ice was on the Russian side of the Polar North.The rest of the artic very little shrinkage.

I showed a map of the Artic in a previous thread that seems to contradict what this article claims.

Then we have the usual lie:


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In their search for food, polar bears are also having to roam further south, rummaging in the dustbins of Canadian homes. Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the explorer who has been to the North Pole seven times, said he had noticed a deterioration in the bears’ ice habitat since his first expedition in 1975.
“Each year there was more water than the time before,” he said. “We used amphibious sledges for the first time in 1986.” His last expedition was in 2002, when he fell through the ice and lost some of his fingers to frostbite.

It is false to say that every year there is more water.No proof was offered in the article.No proof was mentioned anyway about the surface ice either.

Hmmm.
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[wilson1]

I always wanted to see a fight between a polar bear in the water and a shark. I know the shark would win, but wonder how much damage the bear could inflict before becoming supper.

Also always wondered which would win in a fight between a Siberian tiger and any kind of big bear.

You wouldn't have colorful male birds tied to barrels in your backyard, would ya? :grin:

[DesertFox]

Actually, I'm trying to suggest a movie plot to Steven Spielberg since he can't unstick his nose from a Muzzy rectum.

[DeclinetoState]

By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor

Published: 12 February 2006

Starving polar bears are presenting an unprecedented challenge to George Bush's refusal to take action over global warming - and may succeed where environmentalists and other governments have failed in getting him to curb pollution.

Despite the President's obdurate stance on climate change, the US administration last week took the first steps towards officially listing the bear as an endangered species. The Arctic ice on which the iconic animal lives is melting away as the world heats up and, if the listing is finalised, the Bush administration will be obliged to modify its pollution policies to try to save the bear.

The move comes as the President faces attack for the first time over global warming from some of his strongest allies. Evangelical Christian leaders last week took out TV ads urging action, while, in Britain, Tony Blair has warned that the world has less than seven years to get to grips with climate change.


http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article344931.ece

:blah:

[Faithful_Servant]

This has got to be the low point for the GW crowd. The rest of the story is that the bears didn't drown because of the temperature, they drowned beause they got caught in a storm. But the GWs won't talk too much about that part, because the truth would hurt thier cause.

[Eagle1]

wasnt there a fox show with a bear vs a shark???

or maybe they cancelled it. but it would be fun to watch