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US Must Clarify Bears' Status: Judge

Green groups hail decision giving feds deadline under endangered species act

By Sam Gale Rosen,  Newser Staff

Posted Apr 29, 2008 4:03 PM CDT

(Newser) – A federal judge today ordered the US government to decide by May 15 if polar bears are endangered, the Los Angeles Times reports, a victory for environmental groups. The judge ruled the feds broke the law by missing the original Jan. 9 deadline; the government offered "no specific facts that would justify the existing delay, much less further delay," the judge said.

The ruling is good news for the three environmental groups that have been petitioning for polar bears to be listed as endangered because of vanishing sea ice, where the bears hunt for food. One advocate calls the decision "the first step toward saving the polar bear and the entire Arctic ecosystem from global warming."

Polar bear cub Wilbaer  right, plays with his mother Corinna in the open air enclosure of the polar bears at the zoo in Stuttgart, southern Germany.
Polar bear cub "Wilbaer" right, plays with his mother "Corinna" in the open air enclosure of the polar bears at the zoo in Stuttgart, southern Germany.   (AP Photo/Daniel Maurer)
FILE -- A polar bear mother and her two cubs in Wapusk National Park on the shore of Hudson Bay near Churchill, Manitoba, in this Nov. 6, 2007 file photo.
FILE -- A polar bear mother and her two cubs in Wapusk National Park on the shore of Hudson Bay near Churchill, Manitoba, in this Nov. 6, 2007 file photo.   (AP Photo/The Canadian Press,Jonathan Hayward)
A federal judge today ruled the US Environmental Protection Agency cannot further delay a ruling on polar bears' endangered status, setting a May 15 deadline for a decision.
A federal judge today ruled the US Environmental Protection Agency cannot further delay a ruling on polar bears' endangered status, setting a May 15 deadline for a decision.   (AP Photo/U.S. Fish and Wild Life Service, Steve Amstrup, File)
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