Obama Offers Polar Bear Protection

If Tristan Thorn, hero of Neil Gaiman’s remarkable Stardust, had offered to gallivant off to the Arctic to slaughter a polar bear and bring its head back to President Obama as a birthday gift, Barack would have sternly told him “No-no!”

I jest in fun, because this is such fantastic news. If you’ve seen Earth (or An Inconvenient Truth or Planet Earth or any other climate change documentary made by people other than half-wits—or even one of those “We’re All Connected” posters), you know that polar bears are having a pretty rough go of it these days.

Their habitats are dwindling faster than Wal-Mart’s supply of Zhu Zhu hamsters. This is because their ice is freaking shrinking due to climate change and the reduction of sea ice. Their homes—and food— are also being filled with pollutants like PCBs, DDT, and mercury, which kills their immune systems, causes bone mineral density loss (making pregnancy and nursing difficult), physiological damage and hormonal imbalance. The only thing is, even though it’s because of us, polar bears, unlike humans who have been poisoned and have had their lives ruined, cannot sue us for it.

Tourism and hunting—other forms of human interference—are also contributing to the decline of the polar bear population. From people wanting to ogle and take pictures of polar bears—and then scream at them to be shot if approached by them—to oil tycoons looking to make a buck to people wanting white bearskin rugs in Alaska, Greenland and Canada (where two-thirds of the world’s polar bears actually live), polar bears are being hit from just about every end possible.

The good news is that the Obama Administration recently announced its support of more international polar bear protection.  Interior Secretary Ken Salazar in particular is leading the way for uplisting polar bears’ conservation status worldwide, which may help stop the trade of polar bear body parts and hunting in the long run.

If you’re as excited about this in-the-right-direction, progressive action as I am and want to send Ken Salazar a message of gratitude, you can do so here. Let’s just hope that the momentum doesn’t end here, and that we can give polar bears the protection we’ve failed to give so many other animals that our species has wiped out over the years.

And of course, if you have any other concerns about specific animals or environmental issues, be sure to let Salazar—as well as the president and your own representatives—know!