Global Warming Is Not The Only Threat For Polar Bears

Even though polar bears are finally listed as a threatened species, there are other factors, such as hunting, that could contribute to their extinction. According to a Los Angeles Times article,

scientists think that the global population of 20,000 to 25,000 bears remains robust, rebounding from the 1960s, when hunting has driven down the population to about 12,000.

Unfortunately, a group of Canadian scientists last month declared polar bears as a “species of concern” instead of a “threatened species”. If polar bears were declared as a threatened species, this could have restricted hunting and thus help protect the polar bear population from extinction.