Polar bears are among the most visible victims of Arctic climate change, with sea ice loss threatening individual welfare through reduced hunting success, nutritional stress, and increased human conflict.
Polar bear welfare is determined almost entirely by sea ice availability — a variable controlled by global greenhouse gas emissions rather than local management. Individual bears experiencing extended fasting from sea ice loss undergo body condition decline, physiological stress, and behavioral changes consistent with negative welfare states. Nutritionally stressed bears face increased parasite loads, reduced immune function, and for females, reproductive failure and pup mortality. The most vulnerable individuals — young bears learning to hunt, and females with cubs — experience the highest welfare impact from sea ice reduction. Human-bear conflict resulting from range expansion into communities causes welfare harm through aversive conditioning programs, holding facilities, and lethal removal. The welfare outcome for polar bears is inseparable from climate trajectory — without emissions reductions, welfare management interventions cannot compensate for habitat loss.