Save the Chukchi Polar Bears!

America’s polar bears could disappear forever within a few short decades. But that’s not stopping the Bush/Cheney Administration from opening tens of thousands of square miles of vital polar bear habitat to exploitation by Big Oil.

The Chukchi Sea on Alaska’s northwest coast is essential to the survival of one of the two remaining populations of polar bears in America. Drilling in the area could be disastrous, creating noise, pollution and other disturbances that could harm the fragile polar bear population that depends on ice in the Chukchi Sea to find food and to raise their young -- sea ice that's rapidly melting.

In the face of dwindling sea ice and a warming climate, these polar bears are already struggling to survive -- swiming greater distances and often drowning in their search for suitable pack ice for hunting. In fact, the government’s top scientists warn that America’s polar bears could disappear as early as 2050.

But just days before the Department of Interior once again delayed the announcement of new federal protections for the nation’s polar bears, federal officials announced a potentially disastrous plan: to sell offshore drilling rights on nearly 46,000 square miles of the Chukchi Sea.

Tell Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to delay the sale of drilling rights that could disrupt polar bear habitat and would extend America’s dependence on fossil fuels that cause global warming.

Our polar bears are already struggling to survive. Please take action now to help save them.