In Canada’s Hudson Bay, in the middle of summer, the last bits of ice are like confetti in the blue water. A bear sunbathes in front of the waves, away from the pack ice and its prey, the seals.

“They might find a carcass of a beluga whale or a reckless seal, but usually they fast and lose about two pounds a day.”

Its white fur is of little use in camouflaging itself. Around them the coast is almost flat, with rocks, tall grass, willows with purple flowers and thin trees fighting the wind to grow.

Bears in the region are going through a critical period.

Every year, from the end of June, when the ice disappears, they are forced to live and fast on this coast. An ever longer and dangerous fast for them.

Once on dry land, “bears often have very few options for food,” explains Geoff York, a biologist with Polar Bear International (PBI).

The impressive male lying in the sun has remnants of thorns. Nothing to be seen to take away the hunger of this animal of about 3.5 meters and about 600 kilos in weight.

“In some places they can find a carcass of a beluga whale or a reckless seal close to shore, but mostly they are fasting and losing about a kilogram a day,” says the scientist.

In the Arctic, global warming is three times faster than in other parts of the world.or even four times, according to the most recent studies.

Little by little the pack ice, that is, the floating ice caps that are the habitat of the polar bear, it is disappearing

According to a report published in Nature Climate Change in 2020, this could lead to this animal’s near extinction: From 1,200 polar bears in western Hudson Bay in the 1980s, it has risen to about 800 today.

JM