More Polar Bear Propaganda From The BBC
By Paul Homewood
The BBC has been running its annual “Polar Bears Are All Going To Die” propaganda again:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yg344zz1ro
Having been forced to apologise for lying that overall polar bear populations have been declining, the BBC have now turned their attention to the West Hudson Bay area around Churchill.
According to a so-called polar bear expert, Alysa McCall, who is ferrying the BBC team around, half of the bears in the region have disappeared since 1980, due (you guessed it) to global warming.
Unfortunately Alysa is not a reliable source of information, because she works for Polar Bear International, (PBI), a lobbyist organisation. Their own website says they are a “conservation organisation”, and they are constantly appealing for donations, and publicity stunts like this one are crucial for their funding.
And her claims have claims have been demolished by the polar bear expert, Dr Susan Crockford. In her peer reviewed State of the Polar Bear Report 2023, she inconveniently pointed out that there has been no statistically significant change in West Hudson Bay bear numbers since 2004.
The issue, she pointed out, is that there has never been any consistent approach to counting bears in any of the surveys beginning in 1987. There have been aerial surveys, and very limited catch and release ones. Consequently the margin of error is huge, and the amount of guesswork is enormous.
One of the major problems is that most surveys have centred on the Churchill area – ( C ) on the map below.
Little is known about the areas further to the north – B and A. Yet, as Crockford shows, it is known that polar bears frequently migrate to find the best conditions. If sea ice conditions are not suitable in Churchill, bears would likely simply head further north, thus returning to the ice earlier in autumn.
None of the surveys made have attempted to take this migration into account.
As Crockford summarises:
“Journalists go to Churchill and PBI provides the talking points. It’s all just PBI propaganda, it’s what they do every fall to generate donations and the BBC go along”
NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
Had Polar bears stayed brown they would have been shot out of hand as a danger to the public and we’d all be wearing Busbies. In the realo world, all metrics show man is thriving, crops and life expectancy on the up. With conservation you drive animals to contending for food supplies. No one ventures how many of these creatures is a healthy population number
Paul. Shouldn’t it be “further to the north – B and A?”
Of course!
Thanks for spotting
Yet, as Crockford shows, it is known that polar bears frequently migrate to find the best conditions.
Y’all don’t know what migration means. Be aware that human migration and animal migration aren’t the same. Animal migration requires a round trip. Animals moving somewhere else is dispersion.
Frequently migrate is okay. When we hear of animal migration, we think of annual migration. But migration can occur in a day. For example, jellyfish move up and down the water column in a single day. Some fish do it twice a day. Migrations of a hundred feet.
and the world’s shortest bird migration is that of North America’s blue grouse (Dendragapus obscurus). During the winter, it inhabits mountainous pine forests, then when nesting time begins in springtime it descends a mere 300 m to deciduous woodlands in order to feed upon the early crop of seeds and fresh leaves.
In Britain, birds can be noted as being ‘extinct’ if they stray over the border to a neighbouring county. Yes ‘county’ not ‘country’. YCMIU.
https://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/24785156.extinct-birds-found-herefordshire-wildlife-sites/
Polar Bears?
Without climate change polar bears would not exist!
In fact, their numbers have INCREASED during the past 50 years:
Details here —
https://co2coalition.org/2021/10/29/without-climate-change-polar-bears-would-not-exist/
My understanding of the decrease in numbers of polar bears, in the period up to about 1960 or 1980, was that it was the similar to one of the suggested causes of the Fall of the Roman Empire – namely lead poisoning.
But the Romans certainly didn’t get their lead poisoning at 1800 feet per second, which the bears did.
Auto
Managed hunting benefits wildlife. Banning import of polar bear trophies into the US turned many of the polar bears in useless nuisances.
As has happened with cheetahs in Africa.
I haven’t seen Susan Crockford posts for awhile and just heard of the BBC report on Churchill bears. So I checked the Polar Bear Science site. She changed gears back in September.
I have indeed, John. I just don’t have time for both – and honestly, most of what’s going on is exactly this: the BBC (or some other MSM outlet) acting as mouthpiece for activists still promoting a narrative of polar bear catastrophe. Never do they act as real journalists.
So I appreciate Paul taking the initiative and writing this up, using info I’ve previously provided (exactly as I would have done). I wrote up something similar on X (twitter).
And kudos to Paul and others for challenging the BBC directly on the statements they’ve been making about “declining” polar bear numbers. At best all they can say is that numbers have been stable, even though (as I’ve reported), more than a few individual subpopulations have increased in size & we have numbers now for a few that were truly only guesses before (e.g. Chukchi Sea) and also a whole new subpopulation (Southeastern Greenland).
Through all of this, however, no new reports of starving bears despite the many dozens (or even hundreds) of activist photographers roaming the Arctic in hopes of bringing home the money shot.
Merry Christmas, all! You are the best. Susan
+1 Susan.
My complaint to the BBC has just come back, and it has been upheld. This was a ‘Third Level’ complaint – the highest it can go. The two complainants were myself and Paul Homewood.
Summary of finding.
Two Polar Bears kill Canadian worker in rare attack, bbc.co.uk
Complaint
Two readers challenged a statement in this article which claimed that the global population of polar bears was in decline. The ECU considered whether it met the standards of due accuracy set out in the BBC Editorial Guidelines.
Outcome
The article reported on the death of a worker who was attacked by two polar bears in Canada’s northern Nunavut territory. It said such attacks are rare and continued as follows:
There are about 17,000 polar bears living in the country – making up around two-thirds of the global population of the species, according to the Canadian government. The species is in decline, and scientists attribute it to the loss of sea ice caused by global warming – leading to shrinking of their hunting and breeding grounds.
Research carried out by the ECU confirmed scientists agree climate change will cause a reduction in sea ice, which is likely to have a long-term detrimental effect on polar bears and overall population numbers. There are also considerable challenges in obtaining reliable data. However evidence from the Canadian Wildlife Service and the Polar Bear specialist group of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature appears to suggest numbers are stable overall at present and not in decline as stated.
Status – Upheld
Further action – The finding was reported to the Board of BBC News and discussed with the editorial
End.
I will post the longer finding in a separate post, as it displays BBC research methodology.
Ralph
+1 to both you & Paul, Ralph. 👍
Polar Bears must be feeling really victimised and miserable, with their impending doom forever repeated.
C’mon, Alysa McCall, go give one of these big fluffy creatures a great big hug, try to cheer it up!
This is the longer resolution of my polar bear complaint, if you are interested. In this notice, the BBC spend a great deal of time trying to wriggle out of their disinformation, and refused to reference the polar bear report by Dr Susan Crockford.
Executive Complaints Unit. Room 4057, 4th Floor, Zone E. British Broadcasting Corporation. Broadcasting House, London W1A 1AA
19 December 2024
Dear Ralph Ellis
Complaint: Two polar bears kill Canadian worker in rare attack, bbc.co.uk
I am writing to let you know the outcome of the Executive Complaints Unit’s investigation into your complaint about the above article on the BBC News website. In your previous correspondence you said it was inaccurate to say polar bear numbers are in decline. You cited The State of the Polar Bear Report 2023 by Dr Susan Crockford as evidence “polar bear populations in all regions are either presumed stable or are increasing”
As you may be aware, the remit of this Unit is to consider whether the content which prompted your complaint has met the BBC’s editorial standards. These are set out in the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines. The section most relevant to your complaint is the one on Accuracy which says content should be “well sourced, based on sound evidence, and corroborated”
The original version of the article reported on the death of a worker who was attacked by two polar bears in Canada’s northern Nunavut territory. It said such attacks are rare and continued as follows:
Quote: There are about 17,000 polar bears living in the country – making up around two-thirds of the global population of the species, according to the Canadian government. The species is in decline, and scientists attribute it to the loss of sea ice caused by global warming – leading to shrinking of their hunting and breeding grounds. Endquote
.
Research carried out by this Unit indicates scientists agree climate change will cause a reduction in sea ice in the future and this is likely to have a long-term detrimental effect on polar bears and overall population numbers. Scientists who monitor polar bears have already identified changes to their feeding habits and feeding locations, and noticed they appear to be enduring longer periods of fasting. There is also evidence of changes in the condition and location of maternity dens.
However, the evidence we have seen does not appear to support the assertion the global population of polar bears is currently in decline. There are an estimated 26,000 polar bears, the majority of which are in Canada. The Canadian Wildlife Service published a report in March 2024 which said:
Quote: based on scientific assessments (2022 PBTC Status Table), an estimated 54% of the total bears in Canada are in subpopulations that have a recent (15-year) population trend of increased or stable/likely stable (6 of the 13 subpopulations). About 29% of polar bears are in subpopulations that are likely declining (4 of the 13 subpopulations), and about 17% of bears are in subpopulations for which trends are “uncertain” (3 of the 13 subpopulations). Endquote.
.
The Polar Bear Specialist Group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) published a report in 2023 which appears to indicate estimates of polar bear numbers have remained relatively stable for the past three decades:
Quote: The PBSG recognizes that there is public interest in the abundance of the global polar bear population. The group provided its first global population estimate in 1993 of 21,470– 28,370 polar bears (PBSG 1995). Although this was based on the best available scientific information, confidence in estimates of subpopulation size varied due to different research methods and sampling intensity. Some estimates were based solely on knowledge of habitat quality or expert judgment. Recognizing that combining subpopulation estimates that differ greatly in quality could lead to a false sense of precision, the PBSG rounded the range of global abundance to 22,000–27,000 in 1997 (PBSG 1998). Reflecting additional discussion and data, the global range was adjusted to 21,500–25,000 in 2001 (PBSG 2002) and 20,000–25,000 in 2005 and 2009 (PBSG 2006, 2010).
Although better information is now available for several subpopulations, some estimates remain missing, outdated, or include large uncertainty. The most recent estimate of global abundance is 26,000 (95% Confidence Interval [CI] = 22,000–31,000; Regehr et al. 2016). Like previous ranges, these numbers must be interpreted with caution because they reflect the status of polar bears as well as the amount and quality of scientific information, both of which can change over time. Adjustments to the reported global estimate will continue as new information becomes available. Endquote
.
The World Wide Fund for Nature says:
Quote: Although most of the world’s 19 populations have returned to healthy numbers, there are differences between them. Some are stable, some seem to be increasing, and some are decreasing due to various pressures.
Status of the polar bear populations
Updated 2021 with data from the IUCN Polar Bear Specialists Group:
3 populations are in decline
2 populations are increasing
4 populations are stable
10 populations are data-deficient (information missing or outdated) Endquote.
.
The evidence therefore appears to indicate it was inaccurate for the BBC News article to state “The species is in decline”
Those who study polar bears clearly have concerns about how changes to the climate and loss of sea ice habitat will affect the bears in the future. There also remain considerable challenges in obtaining reliable data, with comparable figures potentially distorted by the effects of hunting.
However current numbers appear to be stable and on that basis I am proposing to uphold your complaint. The response you received dated 9 December pointed out the Executive Complaints Unit has already upheld a similar complaint about this article and posted a summary of its finding on 7 November.
This ensured the error was corrected as a matter of public record. However, we note that due to an oversight, the text of the article was not changed as indicated by the “Correction” which was added at the bottom of the page on 2 December. That has now been addressed and the article gives an accurate summary of how scientists believe climate change will have a long-term detrimental effect on polar bears and overall population numbers.
Yours sincerely
Dominic Groves
Executive Complaints Unit
They should say “how SOME scientists think..”
Even when there’s an upheld complaint they lie.
Worse, the forecasts of scientists are nothing more than forecasts. They are not “right” until we have tested those forecasts. To quote them as if their claims are proven is to lie still more.
Yes, I thought it a bit rich to try and falsify real-world DATA, by citing an office-desk MODEL.
Just confirms how models (and especially climate models) have somehow become ‘real science’…!
R
OT but elsewhere in Canada is an interesting development.
Alberta’s government wants reliable electrical system, proposes market changes to get there | CBC News
At least some folk are getting wise.
Yes, excellent, encouraging, thanks. Some good news from Canada, life will improve once they have got rid of Castreau. The whinging from the unreliables hucksters is delicious.
At minute 45 of the Dan Wootton show politician Neil Hamilton namechecks “The brilliant Paul Homewood blog, who debunks BBC climate stories on an almost daily basis.”
.. https://youtu.be/uGtNh7zyqZI?t=2700