Polar bears depend on sea ice as a hunting platform for ringed seals, and the dramatic loss of Arctic summer sea ice is causing nutritional stress, behavioral change, and population decline.
Polar bear welfare is deteriorating visibly as climate change outpaces their adaptive capacity. Extended fasting periods cause progressive physical deterioration — bears lose muscle mass as well as fat, compromising their ability to hunt when ice returns. Females entering dens in poor condition produce cubs that may not survive their first year. The stress of food insecurity is reflected in behavioral changes: bears spend more time in communities, interact more frequently with humans, and show increased aggression at food sources. Individual welfare costs — hunger, physical depletion, stress — are real and measurable even as population trends are the conservation focus. Climate change is the only meaningful intervention: no local management action can substitute for reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that drive sea ice loss.