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'Public relations exercise'Mr Nicklen and Ms Mittermeier are co-founders of the conservation group Sea Legacy, with a declared mission to "use the power of storytelling to create the change we want to see". Canada's National Post newspaper argues: "These images aren't the work of a scientist, an impartial documentarian or even a concerned bystander. They are part of a very calculated public relations exercise." This particular animal could also simply have been sick. Biologist Jeff Higdon, writing on Twitter, speculated that it could have some form of aggressive cancer. "It's not starving because the ice suddenly disappeared and it could no longer hunt seals," he said. "The east Baffin coast is ice free in summer. It's far more likely that it is starving due to health issues." However, he warned that he could not be sure. Polar bears feed intermittently, often going long periods without food and feasting on huge quantities of seal meat and fat when available. Leo Ikakhik, who has spent years monitoring polar bears in Canada's Nunavut region, told CBC starving bears were not unheard of. "I wasn't totally surprised," he told the broadcaster. "These things happen. Everybody probably was shocked to see a really skinny bear, but this is not my first time seeing something like this." He also speculated that the bear was either ill or suffering from an injury that prevented it from hunting. Why didn't they help?Despite the controversy, photographer Paul Nicklen made clear from the start that the polar bear's history was unclear. "We cannot prove that he is in this condition because of a lack of sea ice," he wrote in his original August caption. "But is it a glimpse into the future as ice reaches its lowest extent in recorded history?" Speaking to National Geographic, Ms Mittermeier said : "Although I cannot say with certainty that this bear was starving because of climate change, I do know for sure that polar bears rely on a platform of sea ice from which to hunt." Both photographers have been criticised for not helping the bear but feeding wild polar bears is illegal in Canada - and even if it was, Mr Nicklen said, "it's not like I walk around with a tranquiliser gun or 400 pounds of seal meat". Ms Mittermeier told National Geographic: "Approaching a starving predator, especially when we didn't have a weapon, would have been madness." "I am trying not to be hurt or saddened by the many negative comments generated by this story," she added. "Instead, I am focusing on the thousands of positive reactions." 'SHAME AND ANGER' AT PLASTIC OCEAN POLLUTIONDavid ShukmanScience editor 4 December 2017 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-42221262 Scientists who advised the Blue Planet II documentary team say they feel "shame and anger" at the “plague of plastic” impacting the natural world. Even in the remote waters of Antarctica, they have found evidence of plastic killing and harming seabirds. Wandering albatrosses – which have the longest wingspan of any birds alive today – are thought to be especially vulnerable. Nesting on the barren islands of South Georgia, they feed their young by scouring thousands of miles of ocean for squid and fish but often bring back plastic instead. The final episode of what has become the most-watched TV programme of the year explores how the oceans are threatened by human activities including overfishing and pollution. In a particularly moving scene, Dr Lucy Quinn, a zoologist, is seen checking albatross chicks on Bird Island where she was the British Antarctic Survey’s winter manager for more than two years. One chick that Dr Quinn found dead and later dissected was killed because a plastic toothpick that it swallowed had pierced its stomach. Others had regurgitated plastic items including cling film, food packaging, cutlery and parts of bottles. Dr Quinn told me: “I feel real shame and anger that it’s humans who have caused this problem. "It’s really sad because you get to know the birds and how long it takes the parents, away for ten days at a time, to collect food for their chicks and what they bring back is plastic. "And what’s sad is that the plague of plastic is as far-reaching as these seemingly pristine environments." It's not known how many albatross chicks in Antarctica die from plastic pollution every year – it's thought to be fewer than the losses suffered by Laysan albatrosses on Midway Atoll in the Pacific . But on Bird Island, predators often eat dead chicks before the researchers can reach them – and the suspicion is that the effect of the plastic goes beyond the direct killing of seabirds. According to Dr Quinn, the threat is more insidious, weakening birds as they waste energy trying to digest plastic, which has no nutritional value, and potentially poisoning them as chemicals are released when the plastic breaks down in their stomachs. Research at the other end of the world into a smaller relative of the albatross – the fulmars of the North Sea – shows that while plastics may directly kill seabirds, it is the debilitating effects of the waste that could be more serious. Studies of fulmars found dead on beaches or caught accidentally by fishermen – which Dr Quinn has also been involved in – show that from 2010-2014, UK fulmars were found to contain on average 39 particles of plastic weighing a total of 0.32 grams. In an unsettling image, the volume of space taken up by that plastic in a fulmar’s belly is the equivalent in a human stomach of the contents of a typical lunchbox, and usually the plastic is made up of consumer items used just once and then thrown away. Most shocking is the effect of party balloons, released in a moment of celebration, but then catching the eye of a fulmar searching for food. Dr Quinn remembers one occasion when she dissected one of the birds. "I couldn’t believe my eyes, seeing a balloon in the bird’s oesophagus, which would have killed it, along with cling film, toothbrushes and packaging – I feel extremely sad for the birds and impatient to do something," she said. The plastic may be undermining the fulmars’ health, which could affect their ability to breed - with long-term implications for the population as a whole. The threat from plastic waste is not limited to pieces that are visible – bottles, bags and other items break down into minute fragments, or "micro-plastics", which enter the food chain in every corner of the ocean. Scientists from the University of Newcastle even identified tiny fibres in the smallest creatures living in the deepest part of the Pacific, the Mariana Trench. Dr Jon Copley, of the University of Southampton, who joined the Blue Planet submarine filming in Antarctica, says that although he did not spot any plastic in the polar waters, he has been shocked by its presence elsewhere. "When I've seen plastic in the deep ocean - such as a bin liner we found near deep-sea vents in the Cayman Trough - there's an initial shock and disappointment that our rubbish has got here before us as explorers. "But then there's the realisation that our everyday lives are more connected to the deep ocean than we perhaps think. "Every piece of plastic rubbish has a story, so it also makes me wonder about the chain of events that led to that particular item ending up in the deep ocean, and whether any of those events could have been prevented." |