US accepts threat to polar bears

The US has proposed listing polar bears as a threatened species because of declining Arctic ice levels, reports the BBC.

It is the first time the US has made a direct link between global warming and the threat to a species.

President George W Bush has steadfastly refused to back mandatory controls of emissions of carbon dioxide — believed to be the main gas behind global warming.

There are 20,000 to 25,000 polar bears  across the globe, about 4700 of them in the US state of Alaska.

US Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne said polar bears were “one of nature’s ultimate survivors”.

But he added: “We are concerned the polar bears’ habitat may literally be melting.”

Being listed as “threatened” is a rung down from being “endangered”.