Forum Übersicht - Allgemeine Meldungen über Eisbären » Eisbären füttern oder nicht ???

Helping Churchill's Polar Bears
Freitag, 3. Dezember 2010 um 15:43
Lately, we’ve received a number of questions regarding whether supplementary feeding can help Churchill’s polar bears, which are still waiting for the winter ice to form so they can hunt seals. Our senior scientist, Dr. Steven C. Amstrup, responds:



Feeding wildlife is always a complicated issue. There are places where winter supplemental feeding has helped deer and elk herds through the winter and avoided damage that those animals may otherwise have caused to fruit trees and other crops. Such animals, however, often become dependent on the supplemental food and may even alter their natural movement patterns to take advantage of food that otherwise was not there. Then, if the feeding stops, these animals are in trouble. Just like providing a feeder for birds, if you start the autumn feeding, you better feed throughout the winter or you are likely to contribute to large scale die-offs.



In the case of polar bears it is even more complicated. The risks of concentrating bears where they otherwise would not be concentrated and the risks of bears associating food with people must be considered. More importantly, the expense of doing anything at the scale that would provide population level assistance to bears also cannot be overlooked. This is especially important when you consider the large greenhouse gas footprint that would result from any artificial feeding strategy that would benefit bears at the population level. It is, after all, the human emissions of GHGs that is causing the current plight of polar bears. To generate tons more CO2 in efforts to distribute food might offer short-term relief but exacerbate the long-term problem. Ultimately, to save polar bears we must reduce greenhouse gas emissions to save their sea ice habitat, and it would be more beneficial to put our efforts into minimizing our GHG emissions. It's up to each of us to do our part to lower our carbon footprint and to let corporations and government officials know that we support action.



Greenhouse gas mitigation, along with the best possible wildlife management by local management authorities, rather than feeding, is the best way to assure future survival of polar bears. At PBI, we have formed a sustainability alliance team involving experts from a variety of research and management organizations to develop the best possible ways to deal with and learn from compromised bears. Also, the new International Polar Bear Conservation Centre being constructed in Winnipeg is intended as a rescue center for orphaned polar bear cubs and compromised adult bears. PBI has partnered with the Centre, which is expected to open in the spring.



These are challenging times for polar bears and we all must do all we can to ensure that they survive for future generations.

Quelle: http://www.polarbearsinternational.org



Marga