Polar bears are highly intelligent, wide-ranging Arctic hunters whose welfare in zoo settings requires careful attention to space, temperature, enrichment, and social management.
Zoo polar bears present one of the most challenging welfare profiles of any species because their natural ecology — vast arctic sea ice hunting grounds — is so fundamentally incompatible with zoo environments. Stereotypic pacing in polar bears is extremely well documented and reflects the profound mismatch between their space requirements and zoo enclosure capacity. Heat stress in warm climates creates additional welfare burdens for Arctic-adapted animals. Despite these challenges, some zoos have developed sophisticated enrichment programs and large pool complexes that provide measurably better welfare outcomes. The conservation case for zoo polar bears is strengthened by the climate threat to wild populations, but this function requires genuinely high welfare standards to be ethically defensible.