Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Wednesday 24 May 2017

Oil company watches over pregnant polar bear under bridge

DAN JOLING be,” Sharp said.
Associated Press Hilcorp and the Fish and
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) Wildlife Service worked
— A pregnant polar bear out a plan to minimize
seeking to dig her mater- disturbance. Workers on
nity den chose an unlikely their way to Endicott were
spot: a snow drift along a shuttled by bus instead
bridge leading to an arti- of individual pickups. Hil-
ficial production island off corp parked a heavy-duty
the north coast of Alaska. snow-removal truck. Non-
As a threatened species, essential traffic stopped.
polar bears are entitled Advocacy group Polar
to peaceful pregnancies Bear International and
and the operating oil com- Brigham Young University,
pany, Hilcorp Alaska LLC, which are collaborating on
took vigorous measures to a long-term denning study,
make sure that happened. monitored the den with a
In consultation with federal remote camera system.
wildlife authorities, Hilcorp Mother and cub stepped
restricted traffic on the out of the den on March
causeway, monitored the 18. They spent two weeks
den and kept things mostly around the den, eventu-
quiet until mother and cub ally marching off to sea ice
emerged three months In this undated image taken by a remote camera and provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser- to hunt for seals.
later. vice, a polar bear and her young cub stand next to a causeway bridge leading to an artificial U.S. Geological Survey
island oil production platform in the Beaufort Sea in Alaska.
“The bear, wherever she Associated Press researchers say south
decided to den, she’s the Beaufort Sea polar bears
emphasis,” said Christo- ing is melting their primary Polar bears don’t hiber- who has worked on Alas- increasingly use land for
pher Putnam, a U.S. Fish habitat, sea ice. Short of nate, but pregnant females ka’s North Slope for nearly maternity dens as sea ice
and Wildlife Service super- action that effectively ad- create maternity dens to two decades. conditions change. That
visory biologist. dresses Arctic warming, it shelter newborn cubs. If a A Hilcorp security officer in could mean more cases
Polar bears are listed as is unlikely that polar bears nursing mother is disturbed, December spotted a hole of polar bears giving birth
“threatened” under the will be recovered, accord- she can abandon a cub. in a snow drift along the 1.5 near oil field infrastructure,
Endangered Species Act ing to the Fish and Wildlife Upward of 50 percent of mile- (2.4 kilometer) cause- Putnam said.
because climate warm- Service. cubs don’t survive their first way leading to Endicott “We don’t know if it’s a
year. Island, a production island trend, but that’s why we
Oil companies working about the size of 34 football have these plans,” Putnam
near known denning ar- fields. said.q
eas scout for bears using The hole looked like a den
airplanes equipped with entrance, but Sharp was
infrared cameras that de- skeptical. Workers bor-
tect bears in dens. rowed an infrared camera
“Typically they pick loca- from the company fire de-
tions that are away from partment to take a photo
oil field infrastructure,” said inside the snow drift.
Beth Sharp, Hilcorp’s habi- “There was a bear-shaped
tat and wildlife specialist, lightbulb as clear as could