Ever see a drowned polar bear?

By William D. Zeranski

I haven't either, but I do keep hearing about the ‘tragedy' and on the internet with numerous hysterical articles, statements, diatribes and silliness about the subject.

Here's something I found by accident, of course, while seeking a picture of a ‘drowning' or a ‘drowned' polar bear. From an April 2007 CBC NEWS article:

Inuit elders in Nunavut's western Hudson Bay area say more polar bears need to be hunted, as their populations are rising - contrary to scientific data that suggests a decrease.

As the Canadian Wildlife Service ‘reviews' the situation and tries to ‘strike a balance' between what is good for the Inuit and what scientific information is available, one may wonder what kind of ‘consensus' will be reached.

Wildlife board chairman Joe Tigullaraq said the information will be looked at, "whether it be scientific information or Inuit knowledge." That statement should make the Inuit cringe simply because they are the indigenous population--they see the polar bears. They don't have to create computer models and crunch numbers, but as T.S. Elliot put: "Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?"

If watching the evening news and seeing how information is presented, mischaracterized or flat wrong is any barometer of how the rising polar bear population problem is going to be treated, the Inuit don't have a chance. When those bears, which should be falling of ice flows and drowning, start roving the countryside, the Inuit won't be worrying about the heat, they'll be packing it.