Polar bears face lots of issues.
First is the loss of habitat. Not just the usual encroachment of people, but with climate change, the loss of ice. Polar bears are solitary animals and need a large amount of space. They hunt and eat a diet of ringed seals and walrus and they can only do this on ice. The other arctic animals are facing the same problems with our warming climate and the loss of ice. They are all dependent on one another in addition to the ice. This picture looks out at Hudson Bay--you can see frozen ice forming along the shore and the open bay beyond.
2. Contact and conflict with people. The arctic is an underpopulated area but does have towns and people. This bear and cub came to with 2 feet of the side of our building today before being scared away. It was snowing, -25 C, and winds of 40 mph doesn't make for good picture quality!
3. Hunting during the 1950s and 60s into the present and, until recently, the denning area for the polar bears was raided and the baby polar bears were used as dog food. That area is now Wapusk National Park and no one except a few indigenous people are allowed in this area. Also, in 1973 all countries with polar bears signed the International ban on hunting polar bears.
4. Pollution-- dioxins and other chemicals are found in the fat of polar bears.
5. Habituation--bears exposed to something will look for it again. Bears are smart and all it takes is once. If they find any source of food they will remember and return to look for it again. 2 juvenile polar bears broke into the food stores of the center here a few years ago and returned to the same spot within hours of being chased away to look for food again.
The ice is now a month late in forming and it melts a month earlier than it did 12 years ago. Polar bears only eat when they are out on the ice. Much less ice means much less food. Unlike other animals here like the arctic fox whose diet includes eggs, geese, ptarmigans, and following the polar bears around to eat their left overs, the bears only eat ringed seals or an occasional walrus, bearded seal or harp seal. As the time that Hudson Bay is frozen over lessens, it will eventually reach a point where there is not enough "ice time" for the bears to get enough food to get them through the non-ice times. After spending the fall in the birthing den, having their babies around Christmas, the moms and new babies arrive on the ice in March. She hasn't eaten since last July when the ice melted and the mom bear needs to eat enough to build up fat stores to nurse their cubs--sometimes 2-3 initially, and to keep themselves healthy enough to survive. The cubs will not survive without the mom. These are stuffed polar bears in the Canada park services exhibit in Churchill. Don't remember what caused their demise.
The stories about polar bears starving are often confused with times that polar bears just don't eat, but is a possibility as the time available for hunting seals becomes less and less.
Bears drowning is another story we hear--when bears are a long way off land and the ice isn't available to hunt or if the ice starts to break up and the bear falls through, they sometimes need to swim 50-60 miles. Polar bears are strong swimmers and are buoyant, but have to keep their heads out of the water. In bad weather or if the bear is tired, this is hard to do and they can drown. Also, as the water gets warmer, large predatory manuals like transient orcas and sharks are moving further north and pose a threat to the bears.
Geez, that's a real upper, huh? So many of the practices that were detrimental to polar bears have been stopped--food baiting to get the bears to come closer to humans, letting bears graze at the town dump, to name just two. There are polar bear alert signs around town and when bears do become a nuisance, they are trapped in a trap like this one, put in polar bear jail ( holding facility).jpg)
BUT if global climate change continues at the same speed it's been going, sometime in the next 10-50 years, the decreased ice season will make the polar bears life here unsustainable. Once the ice doesn't freeze until December and melts by May, it will be impossible for breeding females to get enough food for them and their young to eat, and the species will not be able to survive. This change in climate is happening too fast for the polar bear to adapt. Their diets are so limited and also they can't go back to the land--not only as far as adapting quick enough, but that niche on land is filled already by the tundra grizzly, from which the polar bear descended.
and either airlifted via helicopter away from town or if Hudson Bay is frozen, put onto the ice so hopefully they'll start hunting.
First is the loss of habitat. Not just the usual encroachment of people, but with climate change, the loss of ice. Polar bears are solitary animals and need a large amount of space. They hunt and eat a diet of ringed seals and walrus and they can only do this on ice. The other arctic animals are facing the same problems with our warming climate and the loss of ice. They are all dependent on one another in addition to the ice. This picture looks out at Hudson Bay--you can see frozen ice forming along the shore and the open bay beyond.
2. Contact and conflict with people. The arctic is an underpopulated area but does have towns and people. This bear and cub came to with 2 feet of the side of our building today before being scared away. It was snowing, -25 C, and winds of 40 mph doesn't make for good picture quality!
3. Hunting during the 1950s and 60s into the present and, until recently, the denning area for the polar bears was raided and the baby polar bears were used as dog food. That area is now Wapusk National Park and no one except a few indigenous people are allowed in this area. Also, in 1973 all countries with polar bears signed the International ban on hunting polar bears.
4. Pollution-- dioxins and other chemicals are found in the fat of polar bears.
5. Habituation--bears exposed to something will look for it again. Bears are smart and all it takes is once. If they find any source of food they will remember and return to look for it again. 2 juvenile polar bears broke into the food stores of the center here a few years ago and returned to the same spot within hours of being chased away to look for food again.
The ice is now a month late in forming and it melts a month earlier than it did 12 years ago. Polar bears only eat when they are out on the ice. Much less ice means much less food. Unlike other animals here like the arctic fox whose diet includes eggs, geese, ptarmigans, and following the polar bears around to eat their left overs, the bears only eat ringed seals or an occasional walrus, bearded seal or harp seal. As the time that Hudson Bay is frozen over lessens, it will eventually reach a point where there is not enough "ice time" for the bears to get enough food to get them through the non-ice times. After spending the fall in the birthing den, having their babies around Christmas, the moms and new babies arrive on the ice in March. She hasn't eaten since last July when the ice melted and the mom bear needs to eat enough to build up fat stores to nurse their cubs--sometimes 2-3 initially, and to keep themselves healthy enough to survive. The cubs will not survive without the mom. These are stuffed polar bears in the Canada park services exhibit in Churchill. Don't remember what caused their demise.
Bears drowning is another story we hear--when bears are a long way off land and the ice isn't available to hunt or if the ice starts to break up and the bear falls through, they sometimes need to swim 50-60 miles. Polar bears are strong swimmers and are buoyant, but have to keep their heads out of the water. In bad weather or if the bear is tired, this is hard to do and they can drown. Also, as the water gets warmer, large predatory manuals like transient orcas and sharks are moving further north and pose a threat to the bears.
Geez, that's a real upper, huh? So many of the practices that were detrimental to polar bears have been stopped--food baiting to get the bears to come closer to humans, letting bears graze at the town dump, to name just two. There are polar bear alert signs around town and when bears do become a nuisance, they are trapped in a trap like this one, put in polar bear jail ( holding facility)
.jpg)
BUT if global climate change continues at the same speed it's been going, sometime in the next 10-50 years, the decreased ice season will make the polar bears life here unsustainable. Once the ice doesn't freeze until December and melts by May, it will be impossible for breeding females to get enough food for them and their young to eat, and the species will not be able to survive. This change in climate is happening too fast for the polar bear to adapt. Their diets are so limited and also they can't go back to the land--not only as far as adapting quick enough, but that niche on land is filled already by the tundra grizzly, from which the polar bear descended. 
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