HOW MUCH CAN AN URSINE BEAR?

We know there are big 'uns and small 'uns

in the ursine department of the family named bear 

the most feared, the grizzly, inhabits North America

while black and brown bears are found elsewhere

Now the polar bear, the largest of 'em all, lives in Alaska

where there's no shortage of fishy substances

but lately, they've been faced by some serious problems

a rootin', tootin', shootin' woman named Palin f'rinstances

Bears get grumpy when out fishing for din-dins

they get discombobulated, like you and I, if the fishing's lousy

they dine out on the salmon run which they rely on to get fat

for hibernating when the weather gets blustery and blousy

While this may be food for thought for us humans

(perhaps fish oil may be a cure for the obese)

the PBs and GBs face a dearth of these protein-rich fish

thanks to salmon farms that also breed lice, fatal to these ....

Wild salmon swimming past of their way to spawn

in the upper reaches of Alaska's roaring, unruly rivers

which that hoary old scapegoat, global warming is yet to disrupt

where the cycle of nature revolves and every species shivers

The future's grim for the GB sans those piscatorial goodies

it's a bear market that's looking increasingly bare and barren

bears need to eat 170,000 kjs a day to prepare for winter

while us humans eat almost 12,500 kjs in the same time span

Spare a thought for the bears as we graze on food, fast or slow

(a Big Mac contains about 2010 kjs .. we'd have to eat 90 a day!)

let's shoot Palin or consume less of all the other species

leave the fish to the ursines, let 'em do it natures way