Year: 2008

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“This sets a new low in a long line of irresponsible, disturbing decisions
made of late by the Bush administration,” said Jamie Rappaport Clark,
a spokesman for Defenders of Wildlife and former director of the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service.
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Missoulian (MIssoula, Montana, U.S.)
March 11, 2008

Government denies protected status
for wolverines in mainland U.S.
<http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/03/11/news/local/news03.prt>
By JOHN CRAMER of the Missoulian

Wolverines in the contiguous United States were
denied federal protection Monday at a time when
new studies suggest they could become extinct
within 45 years if climate change eliminates the
snow zone they depend upon.

Scientists say they are still puzzling out new
revelations and investigating unanswered
questions about wolverines’ year-round dependence
on remote mountains that have a deep spring
snowpack, from denning, foraging and mortality to
traveling “superhighways” in search of mates.

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Environmental Groups Sue Bush Administration to Force Polar Bear Protection
Faced With Overwhelming Scientific Evidence, Government Continues Delay on Endangered Species Act Listing Due to Global Warming
 
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – March 10 – Today the Center for Biological Diversity, Greenpeace, and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) sued the Bush administration for missing its legal deadline for issuing a final decision on whether to list the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act due to global warming.
“The Bush administration seems intent on slamming shut the narrow window of opportunity we have to save polar bears,” said Kassie Siegel, climate program director at the Center for Biological Diversity and lead author of the 2005 petition seeking the Endangered Species Act listing. “We simply will not sit back and passively allow the administration to condemn polar bears to extinction.”

Polar bears live only in the Arctic and are totally dependent on the sea ice for all of their essential needs. The rapid warming of the Arctic and melting of the sea ice pose an overwhelming threat to the polar bear, which could become the first mammal to lose 100 percent of its habitat to global warming.

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