Polar bears in key Canada region dying: Causes, effects

Polar bears in key Canada region dying: Causes, effects

Subject :Environment

Context:

• Polar bears in Canada’s Western Hudson Bay, an inland sea connected to the Arctic Ocean, are dying at a fast rate, according to a new government survey. It also revealed that females and younger polar bears are the worst affected.

Details of the survey:

• The population has declined from 842 in 2016 to 618 in 2021 in Western Hudson Bay — the region includes Churchill, the town that is known as ‘the Polar Bear Capital of the World’.
• Western Hudson Bay has witnessed a drop of around 50% in the population of polar bears since the 1980s.

Significance of polar bears:

• Polar bears are one of the most significant predators in the Arctic region and they keep biological populations in balance.
• The big kills made by them serve as a food resource for scavengers like Arctic foxes and Arctic birds.
• If polar bears aren’t able to hunt animals like seals, it can severely impact the food chain and the health of the ecosystem.

Impact of climate change on polar bears:

• Due to climate change led to ice melting, they are not able to hunt seals, their chief food, which may lead to a rise in the population of seals, which may threaten the existence of crustaceans.