How Climate Alarmists Continue to Hijack Successful Walrus Conservation

The walrus is another example of improving environmental stewardship. Valued for its oil and ivory tusks, the Pacific walrus was subjected to intense commercial slaughter in the mid 1800s, and by the early 1900s, many worried they would soon go the way of the dinosaurs.

Although population estimates have always been highly uncertain, as hunting was progressively limited, Pacific Walrus populations “increased from 50,000 to 100,000 animals in the late 1950s to more than 250,000 animals by 1985,” and they are believed to have now reached their maximum carrying capacity. As walrus numbers rebounded, they have crowded together at historic coastal haul-outs. However some advocates are using the walrus’ recovery as evidence of ecological disruption caused by global warming and the loss of sea ice. But their fears would vanish if they had a more historical perspective.

Most recently walruses returned to an Alaskan beach about 140 miles southwest of Barrow. ... news of the walruses’ return would have certainly caused the good captain to celebrate. But not the global warming advocates. A stampede, most likely provoked by a hunting polar bear, left several trampled walruses. Although historically tramplings had been associated with great abundance, advocates spun it as proof of deadly CO2.

... “Obviously it’s a real tragedy, and it’s one we’re going to see repeated more and more as the climate warms and the sea ice melts,” said Rebecca Noblin, staff attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD). The CBD had petitioned to list walrus as threatened or endangered because of increased CO2 levels. ... “Were it not for the dramatic decline in the sea ice, the young walruses at Icy Cape most likely would be alive on the ice and not dead on a beach,” said WWF biologist Geoff York.”

An excellent read. The article documents the near disappearance and remarkable recovery of Pacific walrus numbers in the Bering Sea. It also documents the near extinction of walrus numbers in the Atlantic due to European hunting and the lack of recovery that has occurred there. The former is due to successful efforts of native American tribes, and Alaskan and Russian restrictions to limit hunting. The Atlantic walrus subspecies received no such protection and their numbers are only about 20,000 and restricted to the far northern area of their original territory. The article concludes with:

With such low numbers, stories of trampling are rare from the Atlantic sector. A beach packed with walruses is evidence of better conservation, not global warming doom.

‘...The CBD had petitioned to list walrus as threatened or endangered because of increased CO2 levels. The article makes the bold claim, “Were it not for the dramatic decline in the sea ice, the young walruses at Icy Cape most likely would be alive on the ice and not dead on a beach,” said WWF [World Wildlife Fund] biologist Geoff York.”

This is the same argument used for the polar bear to be put on the endangered species list even though there are more than 50,000 now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_bear

On 14 May 2008 the U.S. Department of the Interior listed the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, citing the melting of Arctic sea ice as the primary threat to the polar bear.[153]

Upon listing the polar bear under the Endangered species act, the Department of the Interior immediately issued a statement that the listing could not be used to regulate greenhouse gas emissions,[153] although some policy analysts believe that the Endangered Species Act can be used to restrict the issuing of federal permits for projects that would threaten the polar bear by increasing greenhouse gas emissions.[153] Environmental groups have pledged to go to court to have the Endangered Species Act interpreted in such a way.[153] On 8 May 2009, the new administration of Barack Obama announced that it would continue the policy.[158] On 4 August 2008, the state of Alaska sued U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, seeking to reverse the listing of the polar bear as a threatened species out of concern that the listing would adversely affect oil and gas development in the state. Alaska Governor Sarah Palin said that the listing was not based on the best scientific and commercial data available, a view rejected by polar bear experts.[159] In March 2013, a United States Appeals Court ruling upheld the “threatened” status of the polar bear against a challenge led by the State of Alaska.[160]

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