Polar Bear Saved After 1,000-Pound Boy Bear Gets Trapped In Net: Climate Change Makes Polar Bears Endangered Species

A polar bear has been saved after the 1,000-pound creature got caught in a fishing net. It took a team of local residents and biologists to rescue the polar bear, which saved it from what could have become a tragedy, reported MSN.

To rescue the male polar bear from the net, the biologists first used a tranquilizer dart aimed from a helicopter. The scientists were from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, as well as the U.S. Geological Society. Working with residents of Kaktovik, the biologists were able to avoid the risk of having the bear drown in the Beaufort Sea of Alaska because the locals successfully utilized boats to keep the animal afloat.

Once the polar bear was tranquilized, the scientists began the process that saved the boy bear to be freed into the wild.

Significance of Polar Bears: Why Are They Endangered?

The USGS noted that due to climate change, polar bears’ habitats have been impacted, and thus the operation that saved the male bear took on even more significance. Polar bears are considered an endangered species, and the USGS has a Polar Bear Recovery Team in place to help.

And it’s not just the USGS that’s working to save polar bears. The Center for Biological Diversity reports that they succeeded with Endangered Species Act protection for these bears in 2008.

Polar bears rank as the biggest as well as youngest bear species around the world. But it’s climate change that’s threatening polar bears in various ways, including starvation. The center issued a warning.

“If greenhouse gas-fueled climate change keeps melting their sea-ice habitat, an Arctic apocalypse will wipe them out in a century — and they’ll disappear from the United States by 2050.”

Future Of Polar Bears: Can They Be Saved?

As for the future of polar bears, Polar Bears International reveals that the species has needed measures that saved it since the 1960s. That’s when commercial and sport hunters were not regulated. However, in 1973, the Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears was achieved with signatures from Canada, Denmark (for Greenland), Norway, the U.S., and Russia. That agreement ranks as one of the most significant multilateral environmental pacts to date.

But polar bears remain a threatened species due to a variety of issues, including the loss of their habitat, problems getting adequate nutrition as a result of climate change, disease, and pollution.

“Based on projected future sea ice losses, two-thirds of the world’s polar bear population could disappear within this century.”

[Photo by Alexandra Beier / Getty Images]