Polar bears are apex predators of Arctic sea ice ecosystems. Rapidly declining sea ice threatens their ability to hunt seals, forcing longer fasting periods, nutritional stress and increased conflict with humans.
Polar bear welfare under climate change represents a slow-motion welfare crisis with a clear cause and trajectory. Individual bears experiencing forced fasting periods of weeks to months are not merely experiencing inconvenience - extended nutritional stress causes muscle wasting, compromised immune function and reproductive failure. Females that enter denning in poor condition produce fewer or weaker cubs; those that cannot reach adequate body condition may fail to reproduce entirely. This welfare suffering is directly attributable to greenhouse gas emissions that have driven sea ice decline. Polar bear welfare improvement requires addressing climate change - there is no management intervention that substitutes for sea ice.