Polar bears depend on Arctic sea ice for hunting seals, and its accelerating loss is causing nutritional stress, reproductive failure, and increased human-bear conflict across their range.
Polar bear welfare is the most visible individual-level consequence of Arctic climate change. Bears forced ashore by early ice melt spend months in nutritional deficit, drawing on fat reserves that must sustain them through the ice-free period. Pregnant females in poor body condition give birth to fewer, smaller cubs with lower survival rates. Bears entering human settlements in search of food face lethal control as a conflict management tool. Each of these welfare consequences is individually reversible by slowing the rate of Arctic warming — making climate policy the most consequential polar bear welfare intervention available.