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You can make a difference in your community. We can help!National Bear Awareness Week
May 11, 2008- May 17, 2008
Nationwide
May 11-17, 2008 is National Bear Awareness Week. Bears play an integral role in nature, but they are facing many threats. Take action, find an event near you, or just learn more about bears and their importance to all of us during this week devoted to bears!
Did you know the most serious threat to polar bears today is global warming?
That's right. Polar bears face the loss of their sea-ice feeding and denning grounds as the Arctic climate rapidly warms due to global warming. Defenders continues to fight to have polar bears listed as threatened under the Endangered Species List and urges legislators to support legislation that protects wildlife from global warming.
Did you know Brown (grizzly) bear and black
bears in America are threatened by poachers?
Poachers are illegally killing brown bears (also know as grizzly bears)
and black bears in America and are selling their gallbladders and other
parts in the black market trade. Demand for bear parts in traditional
Asian medicine continues to be high despite the array of alternatives
available. To combat the illegal wildlife trade of bear parts, legislation
is being proposed that would establish a federal ban on the import,
export and interstate trade in bear parts like gallbladders to help
prevent bear poaching. Ask your representative to sponsor this legislation.
Learn more about bears that roam through North America
Check out our fact sheets on polar bears, grizzly bears and black bears for video, photos and great information about these beloved animals.
How You Can Help
Help bears and other wildlife by adopting a bear today:
Adopt-a-Polar-Bear
Adopt-a-Black-Bear
Adopt-a-Brown-Bear
For additional information
Find out if you can visit bears at your local zoo!
Bear Awareness Week Events are being held all week by:
Memphis Zoo and Aquarium
North Carolina Museum of Life and Science
Washington State's Grizzly Bear Outreach Project
Wildlife Safari (Winston, OR)
Bear Fair at the Oregon Zoo (Portland, OR)
Special Bear Awareness Week Events:
May 14: Help
Anchorage Get Bear Aware!
May 17: Teddy Bear Picnic, Wildlife Safari, Winston, OR
May 17: Teddy Bear Check-Up and Bear Info, Oakland Zoo (CA)
May 17: Bear Awareness Day, Houston Zoo
May 17: Bear Awareness Day, Buttonwood Park Zoo (MA)
May 17-18: Bear Awareness Days, Phoenix Zoo
May 21: Asian Bear Rescue Presentation, Oakland Zoo (CA)
May 24: Bear Awareness Day, Buffalo Zoo (NY)
To post your Bear Awareness Week event, contact Gina Schrader, gina.schrader@defenders.org.
