Posted on 06/30/2009 4:33:40 PM PDT by jmcenanly
Polar bear encounters on the North Slope oil fields have risen to record levels the last two years, a sign that increasing numbers of the white giants may be prowling on land because the sea ice they prefer is shrinking, scientists said.
Oil field sightings along the southern Beaufort Sea coast jumped to 321 in 2007 and 313 in 2008, said Craig Perham, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist in Anchorage.
That’s more than double the 15-year average of 138. It’s also a sharp rise from 232, the previous high in 2005
(Excerpt) Read more at thearcticsounder.com ...
Increase in rodents around domiciles may be caused by global warming...
When we were up there there wasn’t any garbage and we were warned to keep our eyes open for them.
i am sure there is a liberal joke in there somewhere but i am too tired after the franken thing today
Where's my federal grant?
Congressman Billybob
- Decrease of polar bears sure sign of global warming. - Increase of polar bears sure sign of global warming.
That about covers it for them...
What a crock of crap. The sea ice is not shrinking, except in summer. They gather where there is food. Whether or not there is garbage (like the garbage dump in Churchill Canada), there are food smells which the bears can sense from many miles away.
Isn't that how we evolve?
If they’re growing in numbers, does that mean we can start killing them? Just wondering. :-)
I think that this proves that when they bears are done screwing around on an ice cube, they go ashore and screw around.
Yes, now that I have rendered my opinion, you may refer to me as a Scientist.... actually, I like renowned scientist, so call me that.
The population of polar bears in general has increased over the last fifty years. Even assuming the ice is melting, the polar bears seem to be prospering.
Where I am, the temperature is 10 degrees below normal. Is that a “sign” of global warming, too?
Reading the entire article I realized that it is just a sensationalistic headline as the rest of the article is all over the place and can’t explain why most of the increased sightings have occurred during the summer when the ice is at its’ smallest area. And the definition of sighting is flawed as far as making any meaningful scientific observations(from the article; “Oil companies are legally required to report a polar bear encounter to Fish and Wildlife that involves any change in the animal’s behavior, even if the bear simply lifts its head to sniff the air”).
Maybe the oil fields have the cold temp the bears like?
I’ve read somewhere that the Polar Bear population has increased 5 or 6-fold in the last 30 years, IIRC.
More likely a sign that the number of Polar bears is increasing.
> - Decrease of polar bears sure sign of global warming.
- Increase of polar bears sure sign of global warming.
That about covers it for them...<
How bout’ CLIMATE CHANGE? It’s warmer..humans fault.
It’s freezing? Humans fault. Time to die.
The population numbers of the Polar Bear today depends more upon the political winds of the reporting agency than any relation to the actual numbers. And, if the eco-freaks were really worried about the Polar Bears demise, then they would have already transplanted the bear to Antarctica where the Bear would adapt quite rapidly to a new food source...the penguin.
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