Global Warming and Unlawful Hunting: Threats to Polar Bears’ Extinction

In a solitary iceberg, the silent killers are now dying.

Polar bears (Ursus maritimus)- known as strong swimmers and lone predators- now experience extinction due to the increase rate of global warming and unlawful hunting. Sea ice in the North Pole has been the major habitat of polar bears for all their essential behaviors including feeding, mating, traveling, and maternity denning (Biological Diversity). Sad to say, the ice melts in a tragic amount so rapidly. Because the polar bears are totally dependent on the ice for survival, they stand to become the first mammals in the world to lose 100 percent of their habitat. In fact, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) added the polar bear to its Red List of the world’s most imperiled animals, predicting a 30 percent reduction of the bear’s population in the next 45 years (Wildlife), and proposed to list the polar bear as threatened under Endangered Species Act by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

Loss of Arctic snow pack leads to higher energy requirements to locate prey and a shortage of food. As the ice retreats, the ocean transports more heat to the Arctic and the open water absorbs more sunlight, further accelerating the rate of warming, and thus leading to the loss of more ice (M. Holland). This causes higher mortality among cubs and adult males. When large portion of sea ice gone out from the North Pole’s map, that connotates absolutely zero population of polar bears. Because sea ice is the only safe and appropriate place for the eight to nine month hibernation of polar bears, especially the pregnant ones.

However there is another factor that perishes polar bears- the great desire of people to hunt and trade them. Since prehistoric times and until now, humans have hunted bears for their meat, bone, sinew, fur and fat. Some favorite ornaments of primitive tribes include teeth and claws (E. Sentman). Also, bear gall bladders are used in traditional medicines in some Asian countries and sell them for thousands of dollars each. Exportation of polar bear parts stimulates demands in foreign markets, and increased demands leads to increased poaching and illegal trade, which would be rampantly detrimental to this species (HSUS).

Global warming could already be having negative impact on polar bears. In Canada’s Hudson Bay, numbers of this species have been declining (Canadian Wildlife Services). Ice on the bay is melting an average of three weeks earlier than in the mid-1970s which results to the thinning of ice from about 12 feet to less than 3 feet. This forces polar bears to retreat further inland before they have been able to replenish their reserves of fat by feeding on seal pups, which live on ice. Scientists can already document 15 percent drop in birth rates (United Nations).