BEIJING, April 30 (Xinhuanet) -- U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken of Oakland, California, ruled Monday that the Bush administration must publish a final decision about whether to add the polar bear to the endangered species list.

It's been more than three years since a California conservation group asked the federal government to protect polar bear habitat threatened by global warming.

A polar bear jumps into the water at St-Felicien Wildlife Zoo in St-Felicien, Quebec March 6, 2008.

Kassie Siegel of the Center for Biological Diversity, lead author of the listing petition submitted in 2005, hailed the judge's order which short-circuits political interference to a decision.

Andrew Wetzler of the Natural Resources Defense Council blamed the Bush administration of violating the Endangered Species Act by its delaying politics.

A delay, he said, likely has been motivated by an administration desire to see offshore lease sales continue as far as possible without additional polar bear protections.

An "endangered" declaration would also curtail development of polar bear habitat in the Arctic by oil and gas companies. Ironically, global warming will open up some new territory to oil and gas exploration (at the same time that oil and gas machinery will have trouble getting around on some formerly frozen tundra).

Last week, Canada declared that it has a special concern for the icon of the Arctic, but that polar bears are not threatened with extinction.

About two-thirds of the world's polar bears reside in Canada. Coincidentally, the U.S. Geologic Survey has warned that melting Arctic sea ice threatens two-thirds of the world's polar bears with extinction by mid-century.

The decision to protect, or not protect, the polar bear has huge policy implications for both countries. Not only does acknowledging the plight of the polar bear formally mean acknowledging the fact of global warming, but it would presumably require governments to do something about curtailing the pollution causing global warming.

"Today's decision is a huge victory for the polar bear," said Kassie Siegel "By May 15th the polar bear should receive the protections it deserves under the Endangered Species Act, which is the first step toward saving the polar bear and the entire Arctic ecosystem from global warming."