Canada's Western Hudson Bay polar bear population has fallen 27% in just five years, according to a government report released this week, suggesting climate change is impacting the animals.
Every autumn, the bears living along the western edge of the Bay pass through the sub-Arctic tourist town of Churchill, Manitoba, as they return to the sea ice. This has made the population not only the best studied group in the world, but also the most famous, with the local bear-viewing economy valued at C$7.2 million annually.
"In some ways, it's totally shocking," said John Whiteman, chief research scientist at conservation non-profit Polar Bears International. "What's really sobering is that these kinds of declines are the kind that unless sea ice loss is halted, are predicted to eventually cause ... extinction." Scientists cautioned a direct link between the population decline and sea ice loss in Hudson Bay wasn't yet clear, as four of the past five years have seen moderately good ice conditions. Instead, they said, climate-caused changes in the local seal population might be driving bear numbers down.
This change in demographics doesn't fit with the idea that bears are moving out of western Hudson Bay, he added.
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