Dylan: the All-Singing Snow Bear with Guitar
Heide Hatry (2021)
For more bears go to Instagram
There's no doubting the genius of Heide Hatry's Schneebären currently residing in New York's Central Park (near the Upper West Side entrance off 86th Street - hurry before the temperatures rise and they are gone forever).
And, of course, I share her concern with environmental issues and animals threatened with extinction due to habitat destruction, etc.
Having said that, I don't really buy into the idea of a climate emergency or worry about carbon footprints.
And it might also be pointed out that the polar bear population is significantly larger than it was fifty years ago - thanks to a ban on hunting - even if melting Arctic sea ice might very well prove problematic to their welfare (and survival) at some point in the future; scientists project polar bear numbers will have fallen 30% by 2050.
Presently, however, there are an estimated 25,000 of these magnificent creatures walking around and hunting seal pups - mostly in Canada - divided into nineteen distinct sub-populations; some of which are declining, some of which are stable, and two of which are actually increasing in size.
So it's not all bad news; they're certainly not all starving to death and, again, let's remember that in 1971 there were only about 5,000 polar bears left in the wild.
But keep up the good work Heide - and stay warm! Your snow sculptures bring much joy into what is a deeply depressing world right now and like many others I'm deeply touched by them.
