Althouse: Feed the bears.

February 20, 2013

Feed the bears.

"Among Derocher's scenarios is using helicopters to airdrop food on polar bears as their icy habitat continues to melt — at a cost of $32,000 per day for the 'most accessible' bears."

83 comments:

mccullough said...: This might be a worthy project for Coca-Cola to sponsor.; 2/20/13, 9:38 AM
edutcher said...: I thought the Bears were Rahmbo's problem.; 2/20/13, 9:39 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: The food should be delivered in pic-a-nic baskets.; 2/20/13, 9:41 AM
SJ said...: Wait a minute, I can't keep track.

Have they shown that Polar Bear populations are decreasing? Increasing?

I've heard conflicting stories. Including a story of a reporter looking for an image to fit a theme.

And conflicting stories about whether or not the amount of ice in the Arctic is helping or hurting the Polar Bears.

And conflicting stories about whether the ice is spreading, shrinking, or going through more-seasonal-variation-than-we're-used-to.; 2/20/13, 9:42 AM
ricpic said...: Apparently it's us or the bears. Because when you read further down global warming (a given) is caused by "our gas guzzling cars and power producing factories." How is it that I've never ever read anything by or about an eco-freak that isn't virulently fuck humanity?; 2/20/13, 9:45 AM
Nonapod said...: Yeah I've heard several different stories indicating that polar bear populations are increasing and attacks have become a real problem in some rural communities in northern Canada. Is that all made up now?; 2/20/13, 9:45 AM
furious_a said...: Are Polar Bears really disappearing?

But after months of reporting and hundreds of bear sightings, I kept running up against an inconvenient truth: There were a lot of well-meaning, well-credentialed scientists, wildlife officers and local experts who simply didn't believe that polar bears were one ice cube away from extinction. And they had the numbers to prove it.; 2/20/13, 9:47 AM
Anonymous said...: All you have to do is claim there is a dire problem and liberals will give money or whine to government to give money. Lots of money to study and try to fix the problem. It doesn't matter if there is a problem or if your "fix" actually works. It's the act of compassion that counts and is rewarded.

Of course, if you correctly determine there is no problem or that nothing can be done about it, you don't ask for money.; 2/20/13, 9:49 AM
sparrow said...: 32K would run the local soup kitchen for quite awhile; 2/20/13, 9:50 AM
rhhardin said...: Bears cause forest fires.; 2/20/13, 9:51 AM
madAsHell said...: Where does one acquire $32,000/day to feed polar bears?

There was a story within the last month about some photographer moving his family to Winston, Manitoba. He was going to document the demise of polar bears. He failed, but he still clung to his global warming mantra.

That noise you hear in the background??
Yeah....It's cognitive dissonance.; 2/20/13, 9:52 AM
traditionalguy said...: The Disney World version of pretend animal saviors are worse than the Indulgence Salesman that caused faithful priest Martin Luther to post his theses exposing the Pope's game.

Everybody with an internet connection to Climate Depot can, like it was in the days of Gutenberg's invention, get a good laugh.

It is a Big Lie over sold. There is no arctic sea ice melt in the summer more than in past years. It has zero truth. It is only a bad joke on the weak minded.; 2/20/13, 9:52 AM
rehajm said...: Send many global warming advocates/journalists north to observe the bears close up to document the bear's daily movements and activities. Many journalists. CLose up. Without weapons.; 2/20/13, 9:53 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: Another campaign for featherbedding jobs for people who want to "do good."; 2/20/13, 9:53 AM
rhhardin said...: Cartesian bears died out in the 17th century, leaving only the polar bears.; 2/20/13, 9:54 AM
M. Naftel said...: Won't the evil, CO spewing helicopters cause more global warming when delivering food? Or are emissions only a problem when done for evil, non-virtuous purposes? Like Algore's energy footprint to heat his mansion does not count. I suppose this will all be made clear when Obama issues his market-driven solution to global warming.; 2/20/13, 9:55 AM
tim maguire said...: I notice they don't mention that the polar bear food he wants to drop is made of baby seals--gotta be careful to keep those two factions away from each other.

The comments are a hoot. I never cease to be amazed at how much the smart crowd is basing it's opinions on 10 year old data while the people who actually know the current state of the science are proudly compared to holocaust deniers.; 2/20/13, 9:56 AM
rhhardin said...: Some bear toys to while away the hours would be good too.

I propose a laser pointer to amuse them shined from a satellite.; 2/20/13, 9:57 AM
bagoh20 said...: Simple solution: Announce that Obama will be answering questions while petting his reindeer and disciplining the elves at the north pole, and the food will walk itself in. Two problems solved.; 2/20/13, 9:58 AM
Chef Mojo said...: That article is 10 pounds of stupid in a 5 pound bag. Stupid on so many levels, beginning with the operating premise, and going downhill from there.; 2/20/13, 9:58 AM
madAsHell said...: Where does one acquire $32,000/day to feed polar bears?

There was a story within the last month about some photographer moving his family to Winston, Manitoba. He was going to document the demise of polar bears. He failed, but he still clung to his global warming mantra.

That noise you hear in the background??
Yeah....It's cognitive dissonance.; 2/20/13, 10:00 AM
SGT Ted said...: Oh look, its make-work for well educated government natural resource employees. Just a bullshit justification to burn fossil fuels and fly around in helicopters "saving" animals that are quite able to survive on their own without help from the DFG.

The inteference with the natural habitat of the bears is really telling. When food sources run out, big animals move to find more, or they starve.; 2/20/13, 10:03 AM
Astro said...: Drop AGW alarmists out there. That would fix two (faux) problems at once. Just one Al Gore would feed the bears for a month.; 2/20/13, 10:05 AM
Anonymous said...: Compared to the money we're speding to feed the Polar Bores, $32,000 a day is probably a bargain.; 2/20/13, 10:06 AM
Larry J said...: So let me see if I have this straight:

Due to man-made global warming (or climate change, if you prefer) due to CO2 emissions, they claim the polar bear population is decreasing. Their proposal is to use turbine-powered, jet fuel burning, CO2 producing helicopters to drop food to the polar bears.

Follow the money. It sounds like someone with connections to helicopter operations companies is looking to lap up some ecopork.; 2/20/13, 10:06 AM
Wince said...: What is it about "Don't feed the bears" that these idiots don't understand?; 2/20/13, 10:07 AM
bagoh20 said...: Feeding the bears would make them unsuited for survival on their own, and just how long are we supposed to do this? Even if the ice was melting, it's not the first time, and they will adapt if we don't short circuit it before they do. Feeding wild animals unnaturally usually ends bad for the animals.; 2/20/13, 10:15 AM
YoungHegelian said...: Wouldn't feeding Warren Lee Hill to the polar bears be a win-win for Georgia & the ecologists?

Just thinking outside the box, ya know?; 2/20/13, 10:18 AM
virgil xenophon said...: Astro wins the thread!; 2/20/13, 10:19 AM
Mitch H. said...: What're they going to air-drop? Unemployable Masters of Fine Arts and Ecology Bachelors of Science?; 2/20/13, 10:24 AM
AllenS said...: It's 5º here in Star Prairie, WI, I ice is being made as I type. Don't give me any shit that there isn't any ice a 1000 miles north of here.; 2/20/13, 10:27 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: Polar bears are just brown bears that got trapped by the ice during the last ice age. Over time, they evolved to become white bears.

The smarter than your average bears ended up in Jellystone park and are raiding your pic-a-nic baskets.

It is evolution. Things change. All the time. I thought liberals believed in science and evolution? Why do the liberals always want to subvert Mother Nature?; 2/20/13, 10:31 AM
Darrell said...: They should solicit human volunteers to feed the bears, just to keep the bear's survival instincts sharp. They could have gotten a lot of volunteers at that Global Warming extravaganza in D.C. last week from the YouTube videos I heard. Sacrifice your life. A bear appreciates it.; 2/20/13, 10:31 AM
Shanna said...: Feeding the bears would make them unsuited for survival on their own, and just how long are we supposed to do this?

If they were that concerned they'd just put them all in a zoo and be done with it.; 2/20/13, 10:32 AM
virgil xenophon said...: @tim maguire/

Yes, this mental jiu-jitsu is observed in many venues. I remember an ABC special on gun-control during debates on the first "assault-weapons" ban where John Lott--the ONLY man ON EARTH who had actual data on crime vs concealed wpns carry in EVERY county in America--was debating two gun-control idiots. After Lott recited the relevant statistics these two really smart guys (who had ZERO statistics, but lots of opinions) said: "Well, that's just one man's "opinion;" the real "facts" are, yada, yada, yada...." The mere fact that fact was being labeled as opinion and opinion as fact before our very eyes was bad enough, but the REALLY troubling bit was that the audience of--get this--HS students AND their teachers--sided with the gun-control idiots who had NAUGHT but opinions to bolster their argument--this in a school, an institution of higher learning-- supposedly devoted to the scientific-method..; 2/20/13, 10:35 AM
Greg said...: http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674trapped_belugas_near_sanikiluaq_attract_hungry_polar_bears/

I think the Belugas win the battle of the cutest; 2/20/13, 10:37 AM
Kevin said...: If it's not tuppence a bag, I'm out.; 2/20/13, 10:38 AM
Darrell said...: Pick-a-nick baskets are expensive!
I'm surprised it's not $3 Million a day.; 2/20/13, 10:43 AM
Freeman Hunt said...: Why not just gather up the starving people of the world and air drop them in for the bears to eat?; 2/20/13, 10:48 AM
Darrell said...: Bears especially like vegans. You take care of yourself and they appreciate it.; 2/20/13, 10:57 AM
SJ said...: @rhhardin

Cartesian bears died out in the 17th century, leaving only the polar bears.

You would think that the two kinds of bears could peacefully coexist. Sadly, there was some sort of Polar Plot against the Cartesian bears.

And did anyone document the transformation function from the Cartesian to the Polar bears? Is it reversible?

(Aside: are you a math-geek? I wonder if anyone else got that joke.); 2/20/13, 10:59 AM
Moose said...: Would they be dropping latte's around Sully's apartment too?; 2/20/13, 11:00 AM
Anonymous said...: this is why you don't feed occupiers.; 2/20/13, 11:05 AM
kjbe said...: It is evolution. Things change. All the time. I thought liberals believed in science and evolution? Why do the liberals always want to subvert Mother Nature?

Many of us who don't fit into your stereotype - we get this. Thanks for asking, though.; 2/20/13, 11:09 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: So now I guess I have to go back and clarify that I don't really think that there is a Jellystone Park or that the bears are smarter than average or that there are piles of pic-a-nic baskets lying around.

:-); 2/20/13, 11:24 AM
Amartel said...: Hey, gang! Let's just include the bears in the next comprehensive immigration act! Then the bears can have a path to free pio-a-nic baskets, er citizenship, and voting for us rights. Win-win-win!

Progs just cannot resist the urge to meddle in other lives. First, the polar bear population is fine. That's been proven but these assholes don't let facts stand in the way of perfectly good propaganda. I repeat: the bears are fine. They've survived millenia of climate change and they'll survive this one, too. Second, UNLESS stupid proggies give them free food which leads them to stay where they should not on the assumption that free food is going to fall from the sky. Hmm, maybe the enviro-proggies are trying to CREATE a crisis where one stubbornly does not exist.; 2/20/13, 11:41 AM
Seeing Red said...: I thought the polar bears were mating with the brown bears?; 2/20/13, 11:44 AM
Seeing Red said...: Umm, if the ice is melting, doesn't that mean it's easier to get to the fish?; 2/20/13, 11:44 AM
Sam L. said...: No doubt they want government to pay for this.; 2/20/13, 12:03 PM
Paul said...: Seeing Red,

Yea that was my first thought.

So 32K buckos... who is footing the bill, Al Gore?; 2/20/13, 12:05 PM
Leland said...: I'm with Larry J. If the issue is feeding bears because of global warming, and the notion of global warming is really anthropometric global warming associated with the internal combustion engine and burning of fossil fuel; what's this helicopter using for power?

If it is not about global warming and it is just about repealing Darwin's laws; then is $32K a day sufficient? In a more recent post, it looks like the cost for repealing Darwin's law is in the neighborhood of $33 million a year.; 2/20/13, 12:34 PM
Original Mike said...: Thing is, polar bears are not threatened by melting ice. Some polar bear populations are at record high levels. It's yet another eco scam.; 2/20/13, 12:42 PM
Astro said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/20/13, 12:42 PM
Astro said...: From the article: If it's gone, they can't catch seals, which tend to stay far from land. And if the bears can't catch seals, they can't survive. There's no other way around it.

I guess these bears are strict sealatarians.; 2/20/13, 12:43 PM
Tyrone Slothrop said...: So a polar bear walks into a bar.

He says to the bartender, "Gimme aaah------ beer."

Says the bartender, "Why the big pause?"

The bear says, "I dunno, I guess I was just born with 'em."; 2/20/13, 1:18 PM
Seeing Red said...: If there's no ice, where do the seals go?; 2/20/13, 1:40 PM
Seeing Red said...: When other food is unavailable, polar bears will eat just about any animal they can get, including reindeer, small rodents, seabirds, waterfowl, fish, eggs, vegetation (including kelp), berries, and human garbage.; 2/20/13, 1:41 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: I dropped it at "thanks to our gas guzzling" bang! I'm gone.; 2/20/13, 1:45 PM
Alex said...: I can see climate change denialism is alive and well on this blog, along with the cryptoracism of the other thread.

Good job Althouse!; 2/20/13, 2:58 PM
Robert Cook said...: "Another campaign for featherbedding jobs for people who want to "'do good.'"

Hey, don't knock it! In the future, (like, what time is it now?), the only jobs available will be sex jobs, food service jobs, and featherbedding jobs.

Don't eliminate one of the last remaining areas where jobs may be available for human beings!; 2/20/13, 3:11 PM
Alex said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/20/13, 3:15 PM
MPH said...: I've been observing the polar sea ice extent for years, and this year the ice really seems to be making a comeback.

http://nsidc.org/data/seaice_index/images/daily_images/N_daily_extent_hires.png

In some areas, the ice is well beyond the 1979-2000 median (which is a very small sample to compare against, but nonetheless, there is clearly more polar ice today than there has been in the past few years).; 2/20/13, 3:49 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: I thought that feeding the bears would hasten their extinction.

I know I read that somewhere... or maybe its just something I heard.; 2/20/13, 4:01 PM
kimsch said...: From the article: If it's gone, they can't catch seals, which tend to stay far from land. And if the bears can't catch seals, they can't survive. There's no other way around it.

Seals are not whales or porpoises, or dolphins. While spending a lot of time in the sea, they are land mammals. They need to get to land (ice).

ACK. [pulls hair}; 2/20/13, 4:17 PM
Shanna said...: Seals are not whales or porpoises, or dolphins. While spending a lot of time in the sea, they are land mammals. They need to get to land (ice).

Yeah, I guess I hallucinated all those seals hanging out on rocks in August in California.; 2/20/13, 4:22 PM
Cincinnatus said...: The stupidity just doesn't stop.; 2/20/13, 4:27 PM
Cincinnatus said...: Oh, and Alex, your denialism of the fraud in the 2006 polar bear study by Monnett/Derocher is noted.; 2/20/13, 4:33 PM
Seeing Red said...: Youtube has videos of seals on rocks.; 2/20/13, 4:34 PM
President-Mom-Jeans said...: Alex, you make the Down Syndrome movie theater incident guy sound like Einstein.

A pity that it was not you who died while handcuffed instead of him.; 2/20/13, 5:00 PM
Rusty said...: I say we dress up environmentalists in seal costumes and drive them out on the ice.
It wouldn't make everyone happy, but it would make me happy.; 2/20/13, 5:35 PM
Rusty said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/20/13, 5:37 PM
Joe Schmoe said...: Pick-a-nick baskets are expensive!
I'm surprised it's not $3 Million a day.

Wait until the guv puts the job out for public bidding.; 2/20/13, 6:55 PM
Michael Ryan said...: Wouldn't it make more sense to dart the bears, fly them out in a cargo net under the chopper, and then put them up in the spare bedroom?; 2/20/13, 8:08 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: How about if we eat the bears? Then people could farm them. Farmer Brown and his polar bear ranch.; 2/20/13, 8:12 PM
bagoh20 said...: You know it wouldn't hurt you people to show a little compassion. Whether the bears are in any danger or not, some people think they are, and those people are quite hurt by the possibility. Doing something, anything would help them feel better, and the more expensive it is the more it shows you care. Right thinking people would realize this, and join the effort to save the feelings of people who feel the pain of the possibility of a serious problem that most certainly is our fault. Grow a heart in that dark hole in your chest.; 2/20/13, 8:25 PM
kimsch said...: bagoh20 - LOL; 2/20/13, 8:34 PM
Aridog said...: Bullshit once again...when you read a U s Govt "study" that says "extinction" of 2/3's of the population will occur by 2050...you know it is bullshit. A 2/3's decrease in any population larger than 3 is NOT extinction.; 2/20/13, 9:44 PM
Synova said...: Oh for pities sake.

ALL the ice could melt and the silly polar bears would just find it easier to get to the food. It's not as though anyone has claimed that the seals are dying because they don't have ice.; 2/20/13, 11:22 PM
Captain Curt said...: There's no evidence that polar bear populations are declining, even with decreased Arctic ice cover in summer. The southernmost populations, around Hudson Bay where the ice leaves earliest and comes back latest, are doing fine. There are areas in the Arctic that are too cold for polar bears.

Scientists who have really observed polar bears in the wild have noted that it is the very cold years that take a toll on the polar bear populations, because baby seals, their main food source, have trouble surviving those years. A WWF study of polar bear populations last decade showed that the only population to decrease (northern Quebec) was also the only area of the Arctic that had experienced cooling over the previous 30 years.

If warming and subsequent ice loss truly poses a problem for polar bear populations, they can and will migrate north. They have incredible mobility.; 2/21/13, 2:53 AM
Captain Curt said...: There's no evidence that polar bear populations are declining, even with decreased Arctic ice cover in summer. The southernmost populations, around Hudson Bay where the ice leaves earliest and comes back latest, are doing fine. There are areas in the Arctic that are too cold for polar bears.

Scientists who have really observed polar bears in the wild have noted that it is the very cold years that take a toll on the polar bear populations, because baby seals, their main food source, have trouble surviving those years. A WWF study of polar bear populations last decade showed that the only population to decrease (northern Quebec) was also the only area of the Arctic that had experienced cooling over the previous 30 years.

If warming and subsequent ice loss truly poses a problem for polar bear populations, they can and will migrate north. They have incredible mobility.; 2/21/13, 2:53 AM
Rusty said...: AllenS said...
It's 5º here in Star Prairie, WI, I ice is being made as I type. Don't give me any shit that there isn't any ice a 1000 miles north of here.

Interesting phenomenon, Allen. In the arctic, in the spring and summer months the arctic ice all but disappears. This is the time that polar bears aestivate. Miraculously, in the fall and winter months the ice suddenly reappears. The polar bears are now free to pursue their favorite foods. Seals and Inuits. When seals are unavailable the crafty polar bear will Inuit and dog.; 2/21/13, 7:36 AM
Aridog said...: I am convinced a large part of our problems with communicating facts versus fantasy is the despoiling of our language. In this piece there is a government source citing a 2/3's population decrease as extinction. How is a population with 1/3 still remaining extinct?

Simple really...it is NOT fact, it is **scare wording** for political purposes. We make misinterpretation fact by repeating it and soon enough the despoiled terms become embedded in law and cited as absolute FACT. Ta-Da.; 2/21/13, 10:19 AM
Aridog said...: Just the topic of the post article scares me. In all my years (60+) of wilderness wandering, being close to wild animals, both predator and not, the very WORST thing you can do to them is FEED them. Most of the time, if you feed apex predators you condemn them to death by one means or another.

We feed domestic animals, obviously, as that act was part of the original domestication. I doubt anyone wants a "domestic" polar bear for husbandry or as a pet.

There are, of course, exceptions if the human intervention is carefully managed...such as it was with the Peregrine Return Project in the late 1980's. I participated in that effort and we were extremely careful to give minimum exposure of us to the chicks we feed initially in the hacking out process....e.g., we basically stapled dead cowbirds to a board for their meals and slid the boards out and back through a slot they couldn't see in to find us.

Once they fledged and had the strength they flew and soon enough instinct took over and they pursued pigeons or other wild birds for their meals. We palnned on three years effort to establish 2 nesting pairs in our region...in the first year we established 3 nesting pairs (still 3 here to this day albeit with different birds annually as often as not) who were territorial and refused to tolerate the 2nd year's plants...so we moved the 2nd year birds to a new area far away, and skipped the 3rd year entirely. Minimal human interface can aid a wild species, but it should only be done when a species is seriously endangered or extirpated from many of its normal haunts.

You get what you seek, of course, and in answering questions I had a few people who didn't like the idea of Peregrines over the city...calling them pit bulls of the sky. I explained that they were dishonoring both Pit Bulls and Peregrines with that remark. To date, there is no lack of pigeons, just less of them. There has been no noticeable drop in the Cooper's Hawk population either...so those pigeons like a harried life I'd say.; 2/21/13, 10:49 AM