I’m fortunate enough to have Craig George the Senior Wildlife Biologist (Bowhead Whales) Department of Wildlife Management North Slope Borough, Barrow, Alaska give a few revisions to my last Polar Bear post. I had grossly underestimated the number of whales that each north slope village was allowed to harvest. Secondly, Craig’s interpretation was that it was not necessarily a part of their culture to leave bowhead whale remains for the polar bears to eat. The changes are in caps.
The Inuit people of Barrow and several other Arctic SLOPE coastal villages are allowed to harvest A COUPLE OF DOZEN endangered Bowhead Whales each spring and fall. After harvesting the animals some of the remains ARE AVAILABLE for the polar bears to eat. (THEY’RE NOT TRYING TO FEED THE BEARS)
UNDER MORE INFO TAB
“Population data from two of the areas ( Western Hudson Bay and Baffin Bay)make it clear that those two populations at least are more likely to be declining, not increasing.” The study goes on to mention that seeing more bears near coastal communities and hunting camps reflects “more bears searching for food in years when their stored body fat depots may be depleted before freeze-up, when they can return to the sea ice to hunt seals again.” (TRUE, THE MOST EVIDENT CLIMATE EFFECTS WILL FIRST OCCUR ON THE FRINGES OF THE POLAR BEAR RANGE. SOME BEARS OCCUR IN S.HUDSON Bay(JAMES BAY) WHICH IS REMARKABLY FAR SOUTH!)
