DJ Geribo

As most people know, the Polar Bear is the largest bear in the world. It also happens to be the Arctic’s top predator, spending 50% of their time hunting for food, consisting mostly of ringed and bearded seals.

In the United States, Alaska is home to two polar bear subpopulations. “In October, 2019, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Polar Bear Specialist Group released a new assessment of polar bear populations showing that the number of polar bear subpopulations experience recent declines has increased to four, with eight populations still being date-deficient. The good news is that five populations are stable while two have been experiencing an upward trend.”

Since they are at the top of the food chain, they have an important role in the overall health of the marine environment as well as being an important part of the cultures and economies of the Arctic peoples. As more and more ice disappears over areas of Northeast Canada and Northern Greenland, these last ice areas become important for polar bears and other life that depend on ice. Global polar bear numbers “are projected to decline by 30% by 2050, an issue that needs to be addressed immediately if polar bears are to survive.”

Other concerns for polar bears, all human-related, are from toxic pollution in the environment, direct impacts from industrial development particularly when maternal dens are disturbed or contact with an oil spill endangers their lives, plus the overhunting of some subpopulations.

Although various wildlife organizations are working to save so many vanishing species on this planet, it just never seems to be enough. They always need more money, more concerned citizens donating and working to save these precious animals. Perhaps a billionaire could take just the smallest amount of dollars and throw it towards some of these worthy and extremely important organizations before all the wildlife disappears. But I won’t hold my breath. Remember, they can survive EASILY, without us. They would flourish! But we cannot live without them. It is so simple, why don’t people get it and care more?