Due to the adverse fallouts of global warming, the United States government has listed the polar bear as threatened specie on its Endangered Species Act. This move of the US government has been praised by the wildlife groups as it will play a crucial role in deterring the profitable sport hunt of polar bears pursued in the northern regions of Canada.

The decision to put the polar bear on the endangered species list was announced by U.S. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne on Wednesday 14 May. Kempthorne said that the decision was made on the basis of findings that the polar bear’s habitat in the ice sea, which is vital for them to live, has melted away significantly in the past decades.

 

The U.S. Secretary of the Interior said that it is estimated that the sea ice will melt away by 30 per cent by the middle of the century. He added that this could cause a two-third of the polar bears to disappear by then. A number of activist groups in the US had been lobbying for the polar bear to be put on the endangered species list for several years now.