Complete 5 pages APA formatted article: Ecological Ethics. Polar bears are a species that is in the midst of mass extinction (Ashraf 23).
Complete 5 pages APA formatted article: Ecological Ethics. Polar bears are a species that is in the midst of mass extinction (Ashraf 23).
Polar bears are found in the arctic region, being the first animals to be categorized as the most endangered animals and are threatened to become extinct. Their diet generally consists of seal, fish, birds, caribou, grass, and seaweed, but sometimes they feed on whales that loss their way and come to the shores. Polar bears are excessively hunted for their meat, hides, fat, and tendons. If Polar bears were to be extinct, the arctic food chain will ultimately be affected. Additionally, depending on the importance of this species, it will either have a small or huge impact on the environment and the social life of man (Bourke 69). If the food chain is damaged. it is probable that other animals fed on by this species will become extinct along with it and those species hunted by the polar bears.
The extinction of polar bears would mean that the seal population increases and consequently, all the food for seals will decrease. With time, seal food would disappear, leading to the death of some seals due to starvation. Several other scavenger carnivores do depend on at least the kills of polar bears. Failure to save this endangered species will, for instance, result in the loss of animals like the arctic fox (Koeberl and Kenneth 43).
Just like the deer in Aldo Leopold’s “ecological ethics in thinking like a mountain” would rejoice for the availability of abundant flesh if the wolf was extinct, seals in the arctic region would feast on small fish in the absence of the polar bear. Similarly, when polar bears get extinct, seals die for starvation, there would be a likelihood of an increase in fish, which would in turn feed more on seaweed and algae. On the other hand, grass, which is also a diet for polar bears would grow on a large scale, especially along seashores. People in the arctic region do hunt seals, caribous, and whales for food during winter seasons. The disappearance of polar bears would mean more meat and skin for the arctic human population (Bourke 69-73).
As much as we argue that the extinction of polar bears is an advantage to the arctic species like seals, fish, and some human population, this predator performs a very vital role in its habitat and in the food chain.