WASHINGTON (CN) - The Fish and Wildlife Service has listed the polar bear as a threatened species, after a District Court ordered the agency to determine whether the bear was threatened or endangered, by May 15.
The agency's listing and conservation measures are meant to keep polar bears from being hurt or killed by machines, such as chain saws and bulldozers, but do nothing to decrease the emissions blamed for causing the polar bears' sea ice habitat to melt.
The rules also fail to halt oil and gas exploration in the bears' habitat, even though prime seal hunting territory and millions of acres of newly opened exploratory drilling areas meet at the Chuchki Sea.
The rules do prohibit American polar bear hunters from bringing skins and trophies home.
The agency will accept public comments on adjusting the new regulations until July 14.
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