Wildlife Rescue Series!

It’s true: no matter how hungry it gets, a polar bear will never eat a penguin.

Why?

It’s a bit of a trick question. :) Polar bears live in the Arctic regions, and penguins can only be found in the southern hemisphere. No matter what Disney would have you believe, the habitats of the two never overlap.

But this is all just to introduce a more serious issue.

Polar bears are at risk of losing their habitat entirely—and going extinct as a result.

The shrinking of the polar ice caps has been accompanied by a drastic decline in the number of polar bears living in the wild. Some (especially cubs) drown, unable to swim the increasing distance between ice floes. And those that survive are starving: female polar bears are in danger of becoming too thin to reproduce.

As you might already know, on January 8th, the US Fish and Wildlife Service will decide whether to list the polar bear as ‘threatened’ under the Endangered Species Act, or to wait for another six months before taking action. Adding the polar bear to the list now, though, rather than waiting until a too-late point, is critical to the species’ survival.

The Wilderness Society has already done an amazing job at raising awareness around this issue, and they’ve made it easy for as many of us as possible to contact Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and let him know how we feel. With a few clicks, you can add your name to a letter that’ll be sent directly to his office.

(Please please please take the time to sign; every voice makes a difference!)

PS. If you’re wondering about the subject line, well, it’s from a famous psychology experiment done in the 80s. Participants were instructed not to think of a white bear—and to ring a bell every time the thought came up. The results of the study? People can, for quick periods, suppress thoughts about white bears… but afterwards they’ll think about bears more than those who are instructed to keep their minds on the creatures.