Why Should Polar Bears be protected as a Threatened Species?

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The polar bear population was estimated to be around five thousand in the 1970’s but the majority of recent estimates place the population at somewhere between twenty and twenty five thousand, a five hundred percent increase! Every species should lucky enough to be so “threatened”. Why would a species with this kind of population growth be considered for protection as a threatened species?

The only way to justify listing polar bears as threatened or endangered, while their population is still very healthy, is to use forecasting as a tool to predict future threats to the population of the bears. Professor J. Scott Armstrong, a leading expert on forecasting methodology, is very critical of the forecasting methods used to arrive at the conclusion that the polar bears population could be in danger of decline in the future.

“To list a species that is currently in good health as an endangered species requires valid forecasts that its population would decline to levels that threaten its viability. In fact, the polar bear populations have been increasing rapidly in recent decades due to hunting restrictions. Assuming these restrictions remain, the most appropriate forecast is to assume that the upward trend would continue for a few years, then level off.”…..‘These studies are meant to inform the US Fish and Wildlife Service about listing the polar bear as endangered. After careful examination, my co-authors and I were unable to find any references to works providing evidence that the forecasting methods used in the reports had been previously validated. In essence, they give no scientific basis for deciding one way or the other about the polar bear.”

Once a species is granted federal protection, its habitat also gains that same protection. The polar bear’s habitat includes parts of Canada, Alaska and the Arctic Circle. Some will say that the polar bear is endangered because its habitat is in peril because of the loss of Arctic sea ice due to man made global warming.

A cynical person would say that there is one only reason to federally protect polar bears. That reason is to place yet another obstacle in the road preventing oil companies from going in and drilling these areas. Classifying them as threatened or endangered, could prohibit drilling activities in their habitat as long as they remain on the list. This action could ultimately end the ANWR “to drill or not to drill” debate in congress.