Uncle Stephen grinned You’re getting close Zoe he said The most endangered bear I can think of is the polar bear said Ben Exactly their uncle said And I’ve got a pair of bears in the Arctic that need your help Come with me to the WILD Control Room Ben and Zoe eagerly followed him along the hallway to the Control Room’s ID reader They both placed their fingertips on the electronic pad Print identification complete said an electronic voice The door opened to reveal the center of WILD HQ It was a brightly lit room filled with operatives all of them seated in front of busy computer screens
Uncle Stephen went over to a computer and opened a website This was posted on a blog today he said It’s from a veterinarian named Theo Airut He lives in an Inupiat community in Fairwood Alaska I often read Theo’s blog entries because he seems like a good man who cares for the animals in Alaska It also keeps me up to date with current events out there Uncle Stephen pointed at the top of the webpage Erika has set the computer to alert us to any problems posted on the blog he said And this entry certainly made the alarm bells ring A local man brought the body of a polar bear into the village today Zoe read aloud How sad Ben scrolled down the entry He had gone on a fishing expedition and a bear attacked him Ben read He had to shoot it to save his own life Then he brought the body back for its fur
Theo asked to see the bear’s body Uncle Stephen said He’s posted several recent entries about the bears not getting enough to eat so he wanted to check this bear’s health It’s very unusual for a polar bear to attack a human but this one was starving Uncle Stephen looked grim I’m afraid global warming is taking its toll on their numbers I'm sure you've heard all about the polar ice cap shrinking Ben and Zoe nodded sadly They knew all about the threats of global warming Uncle Stephen frowned Seals normally build their homes in the thick ice shelves he said But because the ice has been thinner these last few years the seals aren’t having as many cubs And seals are the main source of food for polar bears added Zoe
Uncle Stephen nodded Exactly he said The seals have a lot of body fat By eating the seals the bears develop important layers of body fat that keep them warm and allow them to go without food for long periods of time If this bear’s already dead then what’s our mission Ben asked puzzled The vet’s examination showed something very troubling Uncle Stephen said The dead bear had recently given birth That’s awful cried Zoe It means there are motherless cubs out there alone in the wild Stephen nodded grimly The Arctic is a very hostile terrain he said This mission will be your most difficult one yet You need to find those cubs before it’s too late
