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Canadian wildlife would be a very large, disperse topic that seemingly could never end. So in this section I would like to dedicate it to the Canadian wildlife endangered species, near to extinction or on the waiting list to be put on the endangered list.

For me, on the forefront of our Canadian wildlife, and one that is on the waiting list for endangered species, is the polar bear – Ursus maritimus (Bear of the Sea). I had written some earlier posts on this great land carnivore, and after watching “An Inconvenient Truth” by Al Gore, I had no idea just how close we are to losing this species. It brought tears to my eyes.

Due to global warming our Canadian wildlife is changing rapidly. These carnivores, the largest in the world, are drowning…

now (never heard of before 2006). After swimming at length, as they are known for, they have no ice to climb onto, become exhausted in their search and tire out. They require the ice of the Arctic to survive. It is melting at such a rapid rate, at times when they do find ice, it is too thin to support them.

Furthermore in this great Canadian wildlife of the Arctic, the sea ice is now breaking up earlier and freezing later. How does this affect them? Polar bears have about 4 inches of blubber, pregnant females more so. It sustains them on land during the warm months until they can resume life back on the ice where they thrive, hunt and play. Since they build up this fat during the winter feeding season, their seasons must remain relatively stable.

Now that they have reduced access to our vast Canadian wildlife in the Arctic because of less time for freezing of ice, their hunting season is shortened, they have less fat intake and less breeding grounds. Females require enough food to carry and sustain them throughout the summer time to nurture their cubs. Now since their body weight is less than normal, nursing cubs has become that much more difficult, even unsuccessful. Cub survival rates are declining folks and the adults are drowning. Not a good mix for our Canadian wildlife in the Arctic.

Peace