Not that the snail darter is unworthy of love, but some species touch the heart more than others. That's unfair. But it's also very human. When the number of bald eagles was declining, people couldn't bear the thought. The same for Bengal tigers. Now the polar bear is perched on the edge of a chilly demise and is being labeled "threatened" by some administration officials.
Thinning ice is the main culprit (pollution, overhunting, development and tourism are also factors). And the Interior Department is laying the problem at the feet of global warming. Facts are fuzzy for now, but one thing is certain: Environmentalists will quickly move to make the polar bear a poster child for man's inhumanity.
And that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Why polar bears command such affection is open for debate. Their unique look makes them popular attractions at zoos. And their sturdiness against the elements, their ability to swim and live in the harshest climates, makes them admirable. When Coca-Cola wanted an animal to carry the standard for an ad campaign, it went with the polar bear. The spotted owl wasn't on the list.
The dilemma — in the future — will be in choices that must be made to preserve the bear. Chances are oil and gas exploration will have to be curtailed, commercial shipping re-routed and contaminants controlled. The number of visitors to polar bear habitat might even need to be restricted. Right now, some native tribes are allowed to hunt the bears. They would continue, with quotas.
What has happened is that people concerned with the big picture of the health of the planet are seeing the demise of the polar bear as more than a wake-up call. It is an alarm. Already, the government report has acknowledged global warming as a concern in its "bear brief" in ways the administration otherwise has been slow to concede.
But then sometimes it takes a celebrity to trigger support for a cause. And in the world of nature and the environment, the polar bear definitely is a celebrity.