Polar bears are the species most visibly threatened by Arctic climate change, with sea ice loss disrupting their hunting season and forcing welfare compromises through extended fasting, body condition decline, and human conflict.
Polar bear welfare is deteriorating in real time as a direct consequence of climate change. Extended fasting periods that now stretch to five or more months in some populations push bears to physiological limits: body fat reserves are depleted, immune function declines, and reproductive success falls. Cubs born to mothers in poor condition receive insufficient milk, leading to slow growth, reduced cold tolerance, and elevated mortality. The chronic stress of nutritional deficit — combined with the physiological consequences of prolonged fasting — represents a landscape-scale welfare crisis affecting tens of thousands of individual bears. Human-bear conflict creates acute welfare risks for bears that are hazed, trapped, or killed when they enter communities. The only meaningful long-term welfare intervention for polar bears is rapid and substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions to slow Arctic warming and preserve sea ice.