If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

There’s a 7-year-old polar bear named Kalluk at the San Diego Zoo who is blue (see the picture below). Why, you might ask is he blue?

Because his zookeepers painted Kalluk and his favourite toy, a burlap doll, blue. This was done as part of the zoo’s annual Bear Awareness Days which hopes to raise awareness of the plight of the world’s bears and the threats they face including: climate change and rising sea levels.

The paint is only temporary and non-toxic and is expected to fade fairly soon.

Photo by Reuters

The event is also showcasing two young grizzly bears and a baby panda who are new to the zoo. The San Diego Zoo is working in partnership with Polar Bears International to establish a program called Arctic Ambassadors with other researchers around the world.

Bear hugs, Frankie

P.S. For more great pictures, facts, videos, click Are You Polar Bear Aware.

P.P.S. If you want to know what you can do to protect polar bears and other endangered species, contact The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) at National Wildlife Federation (NWF)

The polar bear won the “threatened” tag under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), but it turned out to be a smoke screen. Why do I call it a smokescreen? Because, when Interior Secretary, Dirk Kempthorne, deemed polar bears as “threatened”, he also issued “special regulations” to ensure that the power plants and oil and gas industry are not affected by the decision — they can still spew their gas which affects global warming.

Because of this Endangered Species Act decision — the Center for Biological Diversity, Greenpeace, and the Natural Resources Defense Council filed court papers against the Bush administration for trying to avoid actually protecting the polar bear. The new lawsuit is meant to ensure that the polar bear and its habitat are fully protected.

Knut’s reaction to the ESA ruling

Bear hugs, Frankie

P.S. For more great pictures, facts, videos, click Are You Polar Bear Aware.

P.P.S. If you want to know what you can do to protect polar bears and other endangered species, contact The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) at National Wildlife Federation (NWF)

Although polar bears are now listed as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the Bush Administration put so many loopholes into the legislation that polar bears really aren’t getting the protection they need. To help fill in those loopholes, Representatives Jay Inslee and Maurice Hinchey last week introduced The Polar Bear Seas Protection Act.

The Polar Bear Seas Protection Act seeks to protect the polar bears critical habitats until essential environmental impact questions are answered. If passed, it also would make the Department of the Interior clearly designate critical, protected habitats.

To help get this much needed protection passed, please click Polar Bears Left Out In The Cold which is on the Earth Justice website.

Bear hugs, Frankie

P.S. For more great pictures, facts, videos, click Are You Polar Bear Aware.

P.P.S. If you want to know what you can do to protect polar bears and other endangered species, contact The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) at National Wildlife Federation (NWF)

Polar Bears won a couple of reprieves this week. On Tuesday, May 13, the Senate defeated an amendment to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and America’s coastlines to drilling by a vote of 42-56.

Then on Wednesday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finally agreed to list the polar bear as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act.

Be sure to thank your officials who voted to make these 2 changes happen. Here’s what we were fighting for:

Thanks to everyone who signed petitions and wrote their senators and representatives to save polar bears and the Arctic Refuge. Keep up the good fight.

Bear hugs, Frankie

P.S. To get this blog emailed to you, simply type in your email address and press ’subscribe’ in the box on the right side of this blog.

P.P.S. For more polar bear facts, photos, cartoons and more, check out my Squidoo site: Are You Polar Bear Aware? which has received several awards this year.

P.P.P.S. If you want to know what you can do to protect polar bears and other endangered species, contact The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) at http://www.nwf.org/polarbear