Climate change is forcing polar bears into longer ice-free periods with reduced prey access. Management interventions that once seemed unnecessary are now being considered to prevent population collapse and reduce suffering.
Polar bear welfare is increasingly compromised by climate-driven starvation during extended onshore periods. Bears that evolved to rely on seal hunting from sea ice now face months of fasting that reduces body condition, impairs reproduction, and in some cases causes death. The welfare dimension of climate change for polar bears is immediate and measurable: cubs born to nutritionally stressed mothers have lower survival, thin bears are more likely to seek human food sources and be killed in conflict, and the psychological stress of prolonged hunger is real. Management debates about supplemental feeding, translocation, and captive refuge programs are ultimately welfare debates about how to minimize suffering during what may be a decades-long transition.