Explore to protect polar bears

Two American explorers Lonnie Dupre and Eric Larsen are preparing for a 4-month Arctic journey this summer next month.

They plan to gather information about polar bear habits, which they believe are the first victims of global warming.

The two explorers will walk nearly 1800 km and swim to the Arctic Sea to measure the thickness and density of the ice in the summer according to a plan sponsored by Greenpeace.

According to some scientific predictions, the Arctic Sea will no longer ice in the summer of the next 100 years. Polar bears cannot survive without ice.

The US government is considering a law on threatened animals to protect this bear.

The two explorers Dupre and Larsen planned to make the trip last year but had to reschedule due to unusually thick snowfall.

But this year, on May 1, they will carry out this trip as the Thin Ice Project 2006 - Protect the Polar Bear. Journey begins from Canada, rounds the Arctic and eventually returns to Greenland.

According to research experts, polar bears will lose weight when their hunting grounds are melted. This makes it more difficult for them to catch prey as seals.

The Hoa Binh Xanh organization and the US Natural Resources Protection Council said that the number of polar bears is now only about 950, down 14% in the last 10 years.

Tran Nam