Polar bears face existential threat from sea ice loss driven by climate change. Welfare implications extend from individual starvation to population collapse.
Individual polar bears face prolonged fasting as ice-free periods extend. Body condition has declined measurably in populations studied over decades. Nutritional stress causes females to enter maternity dens in poorer body condition, reducing milk quality and cub survival. Starving bears increasingly enter human settlements seeking food, resulting in conflict and lethal control. While conservation focuses on population viability, the welfare dimension is acute — individual bears experience real suffering from hunger, heat stress and physiological deterioration as their ecosystem degrades.