The Bush Administration has proposed to list the polar bear as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act because its Arctic sea ice habitat is melting from global warming. This proposed protection comes after successful legal action by NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) and its partners to protect the imperiled polar bear.
But this proposal won't become reality without a huge outpouring of public support. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is asking for your comments before making a final decision about whether to protect polar bears or leave them at
the mercy of global warming and their vanishing habitat.
Polar bears live only in the Arctic and are completely dependent on sea ice for survival, but 80 percent of their summer ice could be gone in 20 years and all of it by 2040. They are already suffering the effects: birth rates are falling, fewer cubs are surviving, and more
bears are drowning.
Time is running out. Without protection, polar bears could become the first mammal to lose 100 percent of its habitat to global warming.
You can help protect the polar bears from extinction by signing this petition and submitting your official public comment to USFWS today.
