On January 7, 2008, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued the following statement:
“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working diligently to reach a final decision on the proposal to list the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. We expect to provide a final recommendation to the Secretary of the Interior and finalize the decision within the next month.”
Working diligently? The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was supposed to reach a decision on the legal status of the polar bear long, long ago – far before January 2008. They had to be taken to court, and given a new deadline by a judge, to get them to even try to reach a decision in January of 2008. That legal deadline came and went, but still the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service says it was working diligently.
It is now almost two months since the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service told America that it would have a final decision about the status of polar bears within a month. Another promise broken.
Help the people at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service understand what it feels like for the polar bears in the rapidly warming arctic. Turn up the heat. Call the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at 1-800-344-WILD, and ask them when they’re going to keep their promise for a decision on the listing of polar bears as an endangered or threatened species.
