Polar bears face existential welfare threats from climate-driven sea ice loss that reduces access to prey, increases energetic stress and forces behavioral adaptations with significant welfare costs.
Polar bear welfare is a direct casualty of climate change, as the loss of sea ice systematically undermines the ability of bears to meet their nutritional needs. Individual bears experiencing extended fasting periods during longer ice-free seasons suffer the physiological and psychological stress of inadequate food access. Females with cubs face the most acute welfare challenge, as successful lactation and cub rearing requires the body condition that extended hunting access provides. The welfare crisis of polar bears is ultimately inseparable from the broader climate crisis — individual welfare interventions cannot compensate for systematic habitat loss. Climate change mitigation is the most important welfare action for this species.