Healthy polar bear count confounds doomsayers

Guess we're going to have to hunt more polar bears. Don't want them taking over the world.

No, the environmentalists will want to kill them off in order to 'prove' gloabl warming.

PeTA is good at killing off animals in their 'care'.

True! http://www.petakillsanimals.com/

Some peope might want to re-read this part:

"Mr. Gissing added that the government isn�t dismissing concerns about climate change, but he said Nunavut wants to base bear-management practices on current information �and not predictions about what might happen.�

The study�s conclusions drew concern from Andrew Derocher, a professor of biological sciences at the University of Alberta who has been studying polar-bear populations for years. Prof. Derocher said the 1,013 figure is derived from a range of 717 bears to 1,430. �It�s premature to draw many conclusions,� he said, adding that there were no comparative figures and the upper end of the range, 1,430, was highly unlikely.

Prof. Derocher also said some details in the survey pointed to a bear population in trouble. For example, the survey identified 50 cubs, which are usually less than 10 months old, and 22 yearlings, roughly 22 months old. That�s nearly one-third the number required for a healthy population, he said. �This is a clear indication that this population is not sustaining itself in any way, shape, or form.�

BeverFever,

So what?

They all openly admit to having serious issues counting adult polar bears during aerial surveys. It makes perfect, logical, sense that they would have even greater problems counting smaller polar bears (cubs, yearlings,etc).

Maybe somebody should invest in doing an actual count? Maybe invest in some ultraviolet detection technology which, thanks to the US military, we know detect polar bears easily.

Edit to add:

Here is the actual study:

I think people who hunt polar bears are dickless dorks. But, if the US is going to make them an endangered species they should get accurate population data first.

Good to be a Polar bear if you live in Foxe Basin! One of the few out of the twenty or so populations and having less than ten percent of the world population.

Most of those others are, by count, already in severe decline; disregarding the health issues surrounding the young.

The Foxe Basin bears can enjoy their fools' paradise for a few more years. Serious investigation shows that the whole species could be close to extinction within twenty years as Arctic ice gradually disappears.

My post was just in response to earlier comments that this news item somehow "disproves" any claim that polar bears population is threatened or that climate change is ocurring.

Exactly. We can't actually hug or pet polar bears, and we already have pictures of them, so what possible use could they be?