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Comment by user249 | Hacker News Reader

I think we should create a polar bear preserve in Antarctica in an isolated area away from penguins

The problem is that bears can swim.

To enclose 1000Km of open sea in a "storm-proof, crushing-iceberg proof, bear-proof" barrier to keep penguins out and bears in would be... a defiant task.

If we put polar bears in Antarctica, sooner or later we'll have polar bears roaming in Argentina.

user249 says>"I think we should create a polar bear preserve in Antarctica in an isolated area away from penguins"<

FTFY:

I think we should create a polar bear preserve in Antarctica in an isolated area away from penguins and humans.

Well yes of course. I'm envisioning a park with natural and human-made barriers to keep them in their area. We already manage large predators in the lower 48 states of the US by tracking and monitoring wolves and grizzlies. If it's a choice between polar bears going extinct at the North Pole and surviving comfortably at the South Pole, I'd choose the latter.

Antarctica does not have polar bears, introducing a apex predators to a balanced environment is not a good idea.

That's exactly what a penguin would say.

We here in the US have apex predators in the Rocky Mountains (grizzlies, wolves) so I don't see how this is a blocking issue

Because those ecosystems have existed with those predators for thousands/millions of years and have balanced themselves.

Imagine bringing cold-resistant crocodiles to the Rockies and how much that’d shake up the ecosystem.

An apex predator is only an apex predator in absence of a bigger, more dangerous predator.

This sort of idea has a long history of catastrophic failures resulting in species extinctions.

Bears are big enough that we can easily kill all of them in a few seasons.

Wouldn't be the first time...

Right. This is proven technology!

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