Walruses face severe welfare challenges as Arctic sea ice disappears, forcing dangerous mass haul-outs on land where stampedes, injuries, and disease spread threaten population health.
The welfare impacts of sea ice loss on walruses are acute and measurable. Crowded terrestrial haul-outs create chronic physiological stress — elevated cortisol, disrupted foraging patterns, and constant threat of stampede. Calves are most vulnerable: they cannot haul out with adults in rough surf and are easily crushed in panics. Injuries from tusking (male competition) also increase when animals are packed together. The shift from ice to land fundamentally disrupts walrus social structure and natural behavior, replacing a distributed, calm resting environment with a dangerous, overstimulating one. Noise from aircraft, boats, and human activity near haul-out sites triggers repeated mass panics with cumulative welfare costs.