Polar bears on Endangered Species list

December 29, 2006

Polar bears number 20,000 to 25,000 worldwide, with about 4,700 in Alaska and the surrounding waters. Arctic ice coverage in recent years has been the lowest on record and studies have found polar bears to be smaller and suffering from lack of food. Some have drowned swimming vast distances of open water between ice floes and far fewer cubs are surviving the first months of life, government studies show.