Polar Bears

Polar bears in Alaska have been spotted with missing patches of fur, causing concern among scientists that a mystery illness may be spreading. Nine out of 33 bears studied were found to have alopecia – loss of fur – and skin lesions. Scientists working near Barrow, Alaska, are now trying …

Two of Canada”s top polar bear scientists have warned that recent attempts to justify an increase in the hunting of the storied animal in western Hudson Bay could lead to trade sanctions against Canada. University of Alberta scientists Ian Stirling and Andrew Derocher say the population is neither as “abundant”” …

Experts say the slow formation of winter ice on Hudson Bay this year has pushed some of Canada”s polar bears to the brink of starvation and forced them to scrounge for food near old garbage dumps. The bears weren”t able to get onto the ice to hunt seals until late …

One prominent wildlife expert and photojournalist has gathered pictures proving that arctic polar bears trapped on land will turn to cannibalism in order to survive. Jenny Ross, described by UPI as an environmental photojournalist, witnessed a polar bear eating what she initially believed was a seal carcass, then dragging it …

Polar bears may survive high up in the Arctic but Manitoba and Ontario”s bears are all but doomed, says the world”s best-known expert on the species. Wildlife biologist Ian Stirling, who”s been studying polar bears for 41 years, believes it is now too late to prevent the iconic Arctic species …

Climate change is set to drive a dramatic reduction in polar bear habitats in coming decades, conservationists have warned as they called for action to help the species. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), recent trends for the extent and thickness of the marine sea ice …

BP is back in the bad books of environmentalists, after a security guard on one of its Alaskan oil fields shot a polar bear and staff then monitored the animal while it took 11 days to die Authorities in Alaska have launched an official investigation, as polar bears are listed …

Biologists studying polar bears off the coast of Alaska have found that when cubs are forced to go on marathon swims with their mothers due to loss of sea ice, nearly half of them don”t survive the journey. The study, scheduled to be announced at the International Bear Association Conference …

A federal judge on Thursday backed a finding by government scientists that global warming is threatening the survival of the polar bear. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled that a May 2008 decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to place the bear on the endangered species list as …

The surface area of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean shrank this northern winter to one of its lowest levels in decades – more bad news for polar bears, which depend on the ice to survive. Since the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre began tracking sea ice three …

Russia has lifted the ban on polar bear hunting for the first time since the erstwhile Soviet Union banned the practice in 1957, a move which has drawn flak from wildlife campaigners, a media report said. The governor of Russia”s remote Chukotka region, Roman Kopin, signed a decree allowing the …

Shrinking sea ice on Hudson Bay threatens the ability of its resident polar bears to produce new cubs, a new study suggests.  Researchers at the University of Alberta looked at the relationship between the energy a pregnant polar bear needs to give birth to healthy young and the increasingly early …