In the Canadian Hudson Bay, in the middle of summer, the last pieces of ice are like confetti in the blue water. A bear basks in front of the waves, far from the pack ice and its prey, the seals.

“They may find a beluga whale carcass or a careless seal, but most of the time they fast and lose about two pounds a day.”

Its white fur is of little use for camouflage. Around them, the coast is almost flat, with rocks, tall grass, willows with purple flowers and fragile trees struggling against 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 on this shore and 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 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 beluga whale carcass or a reckless seal near the shore, but most of the time they fast and lose about a kilo a day,” explains the scientist.

In the Arctic, global warming is three times faster than in other parts of the world.even 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, it’s disappearing

According to a report published in Nature Climate Change in 2020, this could lead to the near 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