Polar bears inhabit Canada, which is home to a large portion of the global polar bear population. This makes Canada’s conservation efforts important for the species’ worldwide survival. Understanding their distribution, population dynamics, and challenges in Canada is central to global conservation strategies.
Where Polar Bears Live in Canada
Polar bears are widely distributed across Canada’s Arctic regions, inhabiting ice-covered areas from the Yukon and Beaufort Sea in the west to Newfoundland and Labrador in the east. They range from Northern Ellesmere Island in the high Arctic south to James Bay, including the Arctic Archipelago, Hudson Bay, and coastal Arctic Ocean regions.
Canada is home to 13 of the world’s 19 recognized polar bear subpopulations. These groups are found across four provinces and three territories: Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and Newfoundland and Labrador. Polar bears primarily frequent areas where sea ice meets water, which are rich in their main prey, seals.
Polar Bear Population Estimates
Canada is estimated to be home to approximately 16,000 polar bears, which represents about two-thirds of the global population. The worldwide estimate for polar bears ranges from 22,000 to 31,000 individuals. Estimating polar bear populations presents considerable challenges due to their remote and vast Arctic habitats.
Surveys involve methods like aerial counts and mark-recapture studies, providing insights into population trends. These figures are dynamic and fluctuate, with some Canadian subpopulations showing recent declines, while others appear stable or have even increased. For instance, the Western Hudson Bay population experienced a significant decline, but the Southern Hudson Bay subpopulation showed an increase in a recent survey.
Conservation Status
The conservation status of polar bears is a concern both in Canada and internationally. In Canada, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) lists the polar bear as a species of “Special Concern.” This designation indicates that while the species is not currently endangered or threatened, it may become so due to a combination of biological characteristics and identified threats.
Globally, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classifies the polar bear as “Vulnerable.” This means the species faces a high risk of extinction in the wild. The primary reason for these conservation designations is the ongoing and projected loss of their sea ice habitat, which directly impacts their ability to hunt and survive.
Major Threats to Polar Bears
The most significant threat to polar bears is climate change, causing rapid melting of Arctic sea ice. The Arctic is warming faster than the global average, reducing the extent, thickness, and duration of sea ice.
Polar bears rely heavily on this sea ice for hunting seals, their primary food source, as well as for traveling, mating, and raising cubs. The loss of sea ice forces bears to spend longer periods on land, leading to reduced hunting opportunities, decreased body condition, and affecting their survival and reproductive success. This change also contributes to increased human-polar bear conflict as bears venture closer to human settlements in search of food.
Industrial development, including oil and gas exploration, poses additional risks through habitat disturbance, potential oil spills, and noise pollution that can impact denning sites. Increased shipping traffic, facilitated by reduced ice cover, also presents a strike risk to bears in the water.
Pollution also poses challenges. Polar bears, as top predators, accumulate persistent organic pollutants and toxins in their fat reserves through their diet of seals. These contaminants can impair their immune systems, disrupt hormone regulation, and affect reproduction and health. These combined threats jeopardize polar bear populations.