Last night I was watching Animal Planet, as I often do, and the show was about polar bears in the wild. There was a mama polar bear and her 2 cubs who were not yet full grown, but also not tiny. Due to lack of food, a big male polar bear was following the threesome in the hopes that he could eat one of the cubs (apparently they will eat their own kind if they can’t find other food). MORE

First wolves, then polar bears, now beluga whales. At issue is the population of {the Cook Inlet beluga) whales, which were put under the protections of the Marine Mammal Protection Act eight years ago, which scientists argue hasn't sped their recovery: Palin begs to differ. Her administration argues that that the belugas are faring just fine under the protections in place, and the population is even beginning to show signs of recovering. MORE

To the Editor: Re “ Bearing Up ” (Op-Ed, Jan. Sarah Palin of Alaska, the scientific literature is very clear that polar bear survival is highly threatened in the wild. Because polar bears are at the top of the marine food chain, their bodies accumulate persistent organic pollutants that disrupt their reproductive systems. We must recognize the shortsighted nature of Governor Palin’s appeal not to list the polar bear as endangered. MORE

A federal judge on Thursday upheld a 2008 decision to protect polar bears throughout their range as a “threatened” species under the U.S. The polar bear was the first species added to the Endangered Species List due solely to the threat from global warming. polar bear us endangered speciesThis is good news. For the full story, here's the link to the Environmental News Network. MORE

The state has sued Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, seeking to reverse his decision to give polar bears protection under the Endangered Species Act. Sarah Palin, a Republican, and other state officials say that by listing the bear as threatened, the government will cripple offshore oil and gas development. Thank god we have people like her to protect oil companies from the likes of George Bush and Dick Cheney MORE

A federal appeals court made a final decision Wednesday on whether Fish and Wildlife could allow oil companies to interfere with polar bears. The complaint is that the government isn't doing enough to protect marine animals from the effects of oil and gas development. Fish and Wildlife service wrongfully issued authorization for oil companies to work in areas that could potentially hurt the bears. Tags: oil drilling polar bear arctic MORE

For only $450,000, we could buy almost all of the habitat neded to protect Ecuador's remaining frogs. When I was asked if I wanted to read Jeff Corwin's 100 HEARTBEATS (Rodale 2009) I was ambivalent. MORE

To the Editor: It is deeply troubling that a legally mandated and urgently needed decision to protect polar bears under the Endangered Species Act has been delayed by one agency of the Interior Department even as another agency rushes ahead with plans to sell oil and gas leases across a huge expanse of critical polar bear habitat in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea (“ Regulatory Games and the Polar Bear ,” editorial, Jan. MORE