Bears that inspired beloved stuffed animals are off endangered species list

Transcription

1 Bears that inspired beloved stuffed animals are off endangered species list By Associated Press, adapted by Newsela staff on Word Count 838 A black bear cub roams around at Yellowstone National Park. Black bears served as the inspiration for the famous "Teddy's bear" stuffed animal toy, which was named after President Theodore Roosevelt. Photo: Flickr/Aki Koni NEW ORLEANS, La. The original teddy bears are no longer considered threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Louisiana black bears are the animals that inspired the stuffed toys known as teddy bears. They were dying out, but now the government says that the population is growing and can be removed from the list of animals protected by the act. The Endangered Species Act is a United States environmental law that protects plants and animals at risk of becoming extinct. Louisiana black bears were listed as threatened, or likely to become endangered, in Sally Jewell is head of the United States Department of the Interior, a federal agency that preserves natural resources. She shared the news about the bears at the Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge in northeastern Louisiana. The state's biggest black bear population makes its home there.

2 A Toy Story With A Little History Lesson During the announcement, Jewell explained the connection between Louisiana black bears and the stuffed toy bears. In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt was invited to hunt Louisiana black bears in Mississippi. The 26th president did not find a bear, so hunting guides caught one and tied it to a tree. They thought that would make it easy for the president to kill the animal, but Roosevelt refused to shoot. An editorial cartoon in The Washington Post drew attention to the story. An editorial is an opinionated essay or cartoon in a newspaper or magazine. A candy store owner in New York saw the cartoon, put two toy bears in his shop window, and asked the president's permission to call them "Teddy's bears." The toy and the story became popular, and soon the shopkeeper was selling many stuffed teddy bears. State To Assume Role Of Protector Louisiana black bears once roamed Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana but are now only found in eastern Louisiana and along the Louisiana coast on the Atlantic Ocean. The removal from the federal list does not mean that the bears will now be unprotected. Instead, the state of Louisiana will take over the job of protecting the bears. Part of that work involves planting more hardwood tree forests, the place that these bears prefer to make their homes. Hardwoods are many different kinds of trees that lose their leaves in the fall. Jewell said, "The work's really just beginning to bring back more of these hardwoods so Louisiana can help enjoy the kinds of animals that Teddy Roosevelt saw when he was here at the turn of the century." Some activists who have worked for decades to protect the bears have doubts about taking the Louisiana black bear off of the list. Michael J. Robinson works for the Center for Biological Diversity, a group that helps protect endangered species. He said that some of the bears being counted may not be Louisiana black bears at all. Instead, they might be descendants of black bears that were imported from Minnesota in the 1960s. Louisiana Bears Or Minnesota Imports? A biologist contacted Robinson's group with concerns about the bears in eastern Louisiana's uoper Atchafalaya Basin, the largest wetland and swamp in the United States. The biologist says the basin had no black bears at all until the Minnesota bears were brought in. "Rather than contributing to the black bear population, they threaten to hybridize it," said Robinson. He suggests that the bears be sterilized or moved back to Minnesota. Deborah Fuller is a federal biologist who disagrees with Robinson. She said that a recent genetic study shows no relation between the basin bears and the Minnesota bears. Fuller said, "The upper Atchafalaya bear comes out as its own thing. Not as Minnesota."

3 However, she says the bears may share some genes, characteristics passed from parents to offspring. An official count in 2014 estimated the number of bears there to be between 350 and 600. Fuller said new research indicates almost 700 bears may now live in northeastern Louisiana, home to the Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge. She said that while current numbers are important, so is whether the bears can thrive, and biologists think that they can. Bear Necessities Still Lacking, Some Say Harold Schoeffler is head of the Louisiana chapter of the Sierra Club, a group that works to protect the environment. He originally helped to get the bears listed as threatened and said there are not enough Louisiana black bears yet to consider the population recovered. Schoeffler said, "When we delisted alligators, we probably had 50,000. When we delisted pelicans, we had 28,000 or 30,000." Paul Davidson, executive director of the Black Bear Conservation Coalition, a group focused on restoring the Louisiana black bear population, also does not want the bears taken off the list. He said that one of the government's plans was to link the two populations in eastern Louisiana, and the goal has not been met. Forests still do not connect the areas where the bears live. Biologists say there is already a link, though. Genetic testing shows that some bears from those groups have mated.

4 Quiz 1 What is one of the controversies surrounding the delisting of the Louisiana black bear? Some people think that the bears' habitat is not large enough to handle their population. Some people are concerned that having more bears poses a risk to humans. Some people think that the number of bears is inaccurate because it includes bears from other places. Some people worry that genetic mutations among the bears could threaten their population. 2 Deborah Fuller and Harold Schoeffler would MOST likely disagree on which of the following topics? the number of bears that are actually in Louisiana whether there are enough bears for the population to thrive the reasons why the bears should be taken off the endangered list whether the bears' environment will influence their populations 3 Read the sentence from the article. Harold Schoeffler is head of the Louisiana chapter of the Sierra Club, a group that works to protect the environment. He originally helped to get the bears listed as threatened and said there are not enough Louisiana black bears yet to consider the population recovered. What does the word "originally" emphasize about Schoeffler? He had a new idea. He disagreed with the delisting. He was involved with helping other animals before bears. He first became involved with bears years ago.

5 4 Read the following excerpt. The biologist says the basin had no black bears at all until the Minnesota bears were brought in. "Rather than contributing to the black bear population, they threaten to hybridize it," said Robinson. He suggests that the bears be sterilized or moved back to Minnesota. If the Minnesota bears "hybridize" the black bear population, what will happen? The black bears will be attacked by the Minnesota bears. The black bears will have fewer chances to reproduce. The black bears will lose territory to other bears. The black bears will no longer be a distinct group.

6 Answer Key 1 What is one of the controversies surrounding the delisting of the Louisiana black bear? Some people think that the bears' habitat is not large enough to handle their population. Some people are concerned that having more bears poses a risk to humans. Some people think that the number of bears is inaccurate because it includes bears from other places. Some people worry that genetic mutations among the bears could threaten their population. 2 Deborah Fuller and Harold Schoeffler would MOST likely disagree on which of the following topics? the number of bears that are actually in Louisiana whether there are enough bears for the population to thrive the reasons why the bears should be taken off the endangered list whether the bears' environment will influence their populations 3 Read the sentence from the article. Harold Schoeffler is head of the Louisiana chapter of the Sierra Club, a group that works to protect the environment. He originally helped to get the bears listed as threatened and said there are not enough Louisiana black bears yet to consider the population recovered. What does the word "originally" emphasize about Schoeffler? He had a new idea. He disagreed with the delisting. He was involved with helping other animals before bears. He first became involved with bears years ago.

7 4 Read the following excerpt. The biologist says the basin had no black bears at all until the Minnesota bears were brought in. "Rather than contributing to the black bear population, they threaten to hybridize it," said Robinson. He suggests that the bears be sterilized or moved back to Minnesota. If the Minnesota bears "hybridize" the black bear population, what will happen? The black bears will be attacked by the Minnesota bears. The black bears will have fewer chances to reproduce. The black bears will lose territory to other bears. The black bears will no longer be a distinct group.