Polar bears face profound welfare challenges in zoo settings, from inadequate space and thermal management to the psychological effects of confinement in an animal adapted for vast sea ice environments.
Polar bear welfare in zoos represents one of the most challenging cases in zoo animal management, combining extreme space restriction, thermal management difficulty, and the behavioral profile of a wide-ranging apex predator poorly suited to captive environments. The high prevalence of stereotypic pacing indicates that even the best zoo facilities cannot adequately meet polar bear behavioral needs. Welfare scientists have increasingly questioned whether the conservation breeding value of zoo polar bear populations justifies the welfare costs to individuals who will never contribute to wild population recovery. The primary conservation threat to wild polar bears — Arctic sea ice loss from climate change — cannot be addressed through captive breeding programs. Leading welfare scientists argue that resources spent on polar bear exhibit maintenance might be more impactfully directed toward climate advocacy and wild population protection.