Researchers warn of polar bears vanishing from their Canadian "capital of the world"

Polar bears are disappearing from the western part of Hudson Bay on the southern tip of the Canadian Arctic, and that at fast rates.

This alarming trend has been recorded in a government survey, as reported by the Guardian.

According to the report, there has been a dramatic decline in particular in the number of female bears and cubs. 

Every five years researchers fly over the region to count the numbers, including the town of Churchill, a tourist destination that is often referred to as “polar bear capital of the world”.

The newly published report included data on August and September 2021 and states that 194 bears were spotted and, based on that count, estimated a total population of 618, down from 842 five years earlier.

Comparison with aerial survey estimates from 2011 and 2016 suggested the Western Hudson Bay population “may be decreasing in abundance”, the study said.

The publication recalls on the tragic trend of the bears’ sea-ice habitat disappearing at an alarming rate, with the far north of the planet warming up to four times faster than the rest of the world. It also points to the fact that the sea ice has become less thick and is breaking up earlier in the spring and freezing later in the autumn.