In Hudson’s Bay in Canada, in the middle of summer, the last pieces of ice are like confetti on the blue water. A bear basks in the sun facing the waves, far from the pack ice and its prey, the seals.

“They may find a beluga whale or reckless seal carcass, but most of the time they fast and lose about a kilo a day”

Its white fur is of little use for camouflage. All around, the shoreline is nearly flat, with rocks, tall grass, purple-flowering willows, and fragile trees struggling against the wind to grow.

The region’s bears are going through a critical period.

Every year, from the end of June, when the ice disappears, are obliged to live on this shore and to fast. An increasingly long and dangerous fast for them.

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

Near the impressive male lying in the sun, there are remains of thorns. Nothing in sight that would take away the hunger of this animal of about 3.5 meters and about 600 kilos in weight.

“In some places you can find a beluga or reckless seal carcass near the shore, but most of the time they are fasting and losing about a kilo a day,” explains the scientist.

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

Little by little, the ice floe, that is to say the floating ice caps which constitute the habitat of the polar bear, is disappearing

According to a report published in Nature Climate Change in 2020, this could almost lead to the extinction of this animal: from 1,200 polar bears in the 1980s in western Hudson Bay it has increased to around 800 today. today.

JM