"The state of Alaska filed notice on Friday that it will appeal a federal judge's ruling upholding the listing of polar bears as a threatened species."

"The state, which maintains that U.S. Endangered Species Act protections are not warranted for polar bears, sued the federal government in 2008 to overturn the Bush administration's decision to list the animal as threatened.

That decision was based on what the U.S. Department of Interior said was the rapid warming of the Arctic climate and the melting of summer and fall sea ice that it considered crucial to polar bears' habitat."

Yereth Rosen reports for Reuters August 29, 2011. [2]