Tag Archives: misrepresentation

W. Hudson Bay polar bear numbers declined 27% in 2021 but not because of missing ice: secret paper

Posted on August 30, 2023 | Comments Off

As will become apparent tomorrow, Western Hudson Bay polar bear numbers apparently declined 27% between 2017 and 2021 but not because of sea ice loss. This fact, gleaned from a secret government report leaked to the media, emerged just before Christmas last year and spread around the world. I commented on it here at the time.

It will also be apparent tomorrow why that government report is still unavailable. Thursdays are when the big two science magazines publish their papers, which means associated news stores promoting preferred narratives are embargoed until then. Stay tuned.

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Comments Off on W. Hudson Bay polar bear numbers declined 27% in 2021 but not because of missing ice: secret paper

Posted in Advocacy, Conservation Status, Population, Sea ice habitat

Tagged breakup, freeze-up, misrepresentation, missing ice, Nunavut, polar bear, population decline, sea ice, transparency, western hudson bay

False starving polar bear meme from 2019 making social media rounds with Greenland added

Posted on January 17, 2022 | Comments Off

I have discovered that an entirely false meme has been circulating social media. For the record, here it is with an explanation of what’s wrong with it, which is everything.

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Posted in Advocacy, Sea ice habitat

Tagged climate change, Greenland, icecap, manipulation, meme, misinformation, misrepresentation, polar bear, social media

Bioscience editor tells journalist he won’t retract Harvey paper

Posted on December 16, 2017 | Comments Off

I shouldn’t be surprised that a journal editor who would publish — and then staunchly defend — a paper that deliberately trashes the reputation of a respected scientist would tell the media before anyone else of his decision regarding a retraction request.

Churchill_Polar_Bear_2004-11-15 Wikipedia

From a story at this morning’s Climatewire (“From threats to tears — polar bears polarize both sides” 15 December 2017), my bold:

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Posted in Advocacy, Scientists hit back

Tagged BioScience, defamation, Harvey, misrepresentation, retraction

Cannibalism update and insight on the timing of media hype

Posted on April 19, 2013 | Comments Off

In my last post, I went over some of the spin and misrepresentation of fact contained in the claim by leading polar bear biologists Steven Amstrup, Ian Stirling and Andrew Derocher (Amstrup et al. 2006; Stirling and Derocher 2012) that cannibalism is on the increase because of the effects of global warming on Arctic sea ice.

I’ve had an opportunity to follow up on three points that puzzled me. Three relate to the Amstrup et al. paper that described three cases of cannibalism in the southeastern Beaufort Sea in 2004 and one to the incidents in western Hudson Bay in 2009. In the process, I found at least three more misrepresentations of fact and gained some insight on why these incidents of cannibalism were hyped so enthusiastically when they were. Continue reading

Comments Off on Cannibalism update and insight on the timing of media hype

Posted in Advocacy, Cannibalism, Life History

Tagged advocacy, Amstrup, anecdotal evidence, arctic sea ice, body condition, cannibalism, CDC, CITES, Daniel J. Cox, Derocher, ESA, hype, IPCC, Kassie Siegal, media, misrepresentation, nunatsiaq news, PBI, rogue bear, spin, starvation, starving polar bears, Stirling, UN Climate Conference, western hudson bay