[Kristie]

Polar Bear Relocation to Begin on Earth Day April 22, 2008
2008
THE POLAR BEAR CONSERVANCY
MEDIA CENTER
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Seattle, WA. March 31, 2008 -- The Polar Bear Conservancy will begin relocation of the first Arctic polar bears to Antarctica on Earth Day, April 22, 2008. The relocation will be the initial step in a planned five-year program to migrate 3,000 polar bears from the Northern Arctic to the southern continent of Antarctica.

Scientists say polar bears face near-certain extinction by 2020 as global climate change accelerates melting of their habitat in the Northern Arctic. Antarctica, in contrast, can be a viable home for the bears. Though experiencing melting of its own, the southernmost continent still has sufficient ice coverage to support the polar bear indefinitely in its traditional climate, and it has abundant food stocks, including penguins, seals, dolphins, and migratory whales.

"The public sees images of polar bears drowning on television and they expect us to do something about it," says Polar Bear Conservancy Executive Director Jason Fairbanks. "The time to act is now." Fairbanks says the entire program will be complete by 2012.

The program is expected to cost $30 million U.S., or approximately $10,000 U.S. per polar bear. The Polar Bear Conservancy has raised the first $15 million from corporate donors and is seeking additional funding through industry and government partnerships.

While the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has not yet ruled on whether to list polar bears as endangered species, the agency has indicated that relocating polar bears would be much less expensive than listing them under the 1973 act.

"This innovative private program will save taxpayers dollars billions of dollars that would otherwise be wasted on unnecessary habitat protection and economically ruinous strategies designed to combat so-called climate change," said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform.

Americans for Energy Exploration, a trade group that represents the oil and gas industry, says that the removal of polar bears from the northern Arctic would speed the drilling process in the region and make the area safer for workers who frequently come into conflict with polar bears today.

Republican presidential nominee John McCain also supports the effort: "This is exactly the kind of creative public-private partnership we ought to be exploring. I support the basic concepts of this program."

The first batch of polar bears will be released on the edge of the Ross Sea near emperor penguin colonies trapped by recent the movement of giant icebergs C16 and B15A. "These penguins would starve to death anyway," said Polar Bear Conservancy staff biologist Jon Heidenberg. "Now they can provide an initial source of food for the polar bears while they acclimate to their new environment."

Antarctica offers more than 5.4 million square miles of glacial habitat and a variety of food sources for the polar bear: emperor, adelie, rockhopper, chinstrap and gentoo penguins; leopard, fur, weddell and elephant seals; and humpback, minke, blue and orca whales.

In partnership with the Polar Bear Conservancy, Iceland's Reykjavik Zoo has been test-feeding samples of various Antarctic species to their polar bears. "They really like the minke and blue whale meat supplied by our government research expeditions," said chief zoo biologist Katrin Jonsdottir.

Because of the distance between release points and Antarctic research stations, scientists working in the Antarctic region do not expect roaming polar bears to interfere with their work.

Citizens and corporate representatives interested in supporting our campaign can visit our Web site at http://www.polarbearconservancy.org or our Facebook group.

For additional information about the Polar Bear Relocation Program, contact Lisa Stahl, our Director of Media Relations.

About The Polar Bear Conservancy

Founded in 2006, the Polar Bear Conservancy is dedicated to protecting the polar regions' most magnificent mammal.

I hope they make it across the big ponds and different terrains!