Defenders' Experts
Polar Bears: In the Field
In addition to pushing for protection of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Defenders of Wildlife is working on the ground to save polar bears. Considering the dire forecast for polar bears, Defenders is exploring extraordinary measures to keep these sea-ice dependent marine mammals from disappearing in Alaska.
Among the greatest challenges is to keep bears and people safe as the loss of sea-ice and associated prey forces polar bears to spend more time searching for food on land near coastal communities. Residents of Alaska Native communities have traditionally used ice-cellars to store their food. With hungry polar bears increasingly staying on land, these communities are searching for secure ways to store their food that will not attract bears into their communities. Defenders of Wildlife is providing support with World Wildlife Fund for a polar-bear-resistant food-locker pilot program in the coastal community of Kaktovik.
While Defenders is finding ways to discourage polar bears from accessing food in coastal communities, we are also exploring safe ways to feed polar bears on land. Defenders is working in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to host a workshop of science experts in June 2011 to consider supplemental and diversionary feeding and ways to replicate and build on other methods of reducing human/polar bear conflicts. The results of the workshop will shape the important decisions regarding polar bear management in Alaska.
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