Polar bear numbers are declining in Canada’s western Hudson Bay, according to a new study.
The study shows that the number of bears and cubs in particular has decreased.
Every five years, the Canadian government has sent researchers to fly over the area, which includes the village of Churchill, a tourist destination described as the “polar bear capital of the world”, to count the number of bears and thus track them. development in population.
194 bears were seen at last count in August and September 2021. Based on this, the researchers estimate the total population is 618 bears, down from 842 five years earlier.
– Comparisons with estimates from studies in 2011 and 2016 suggest that the population may decline sharply, the study says.
– The observed decline is consistent with longstanding predictions about how polar bear distribution is affected by climate change, the researchers wrote.
They also emphasized that it was possible the movement of bears into neighboring areas and hunting may have caused the decline.
But polar bears depend on ice, and their habitat is rapidly declining. The northern region is heating up to four times faster than the rest of the world.
This means the ice gets thinner, breaks up earlier in the spring, and freezes again in the fall. Polar bears use ice to hunt seals, travel around and reproduce.
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