A video shot by a conservation group in Baffin Island, Canada, shows a polar bear in a disturbingly starved state. The polar bear's condition may be related to climate change, the group believes.
In the video, the bear is seen having dull, thin, yellowing fur. With his bones visible, he can be seen struggling to move through a fishing camp to find food, but having no energy to do so. Seen in a listless condition and suffering from starvation, the bear in the video shot by Sea Legacy filmmakers on Somerset Island, near Baffin Island in Nunavut, might be a glaring reminder of the repercussions of climate change on our environment and ecosystem.
The bear is seen making its way with great difficulty to a trash can and rummages it to pull out what looks like a fish. "My entire @Sea_Legacy team was pushing through their tears and emotions while documenting this dying polar bear," Paul Nicklen, who was among the team that shot the video, captioned the video.
Polars bear mainly hunt their food on sea ice. Climate change, which is the cause behind shrinking ice caps and melting poles, may be the reason behind the disturbances in the ecosystem and the condition of the animal seen in this video. It has been noted by scientists and nature conservationists that polar bears have been hunting increasingly on land, even though their main food are seals and walruses.
Addressing the issue of climate change's impact on the flora and fauna of the region, Paul wrote, "It's a soul-crushing scene that still haunts me, but I know we need to share both the beautiful and the heartbreaking if we are going to break down the walls of apathy. This is what starvation looks like. The muscles atrophy. No energy. It's a slow, painful death. When scientists say polar bears will be extinct in the next 100 years, I think of the global population of 25,000 bears dying in this manner. There is no band aid solution. There was no saving this individual bear. People think that we can put platforms in the ocean or we can feed the odd starving bear. The simple truth is this—if the Earth continues to warm, we will lose bears and entire polar ecosystems. This large male bear was not old, and he certainly died within hours or days of this moment. But there are solutions. We must reduce our carbon footprint, eat the right food, stop cutting down our forests, and begin putting the Earth—our home—first."
This video brings reality to the tragedy of climate change. US President Donald Trump recently withdrew from the Paris agreement on climate change mitigation earlier this year.
