When I was a child, I had a teddy bear (like we all did) and I have always been fascinated by that powerful and fierce animal. Imagine that future generations will probably never get the chance to see one because they wouldn’t exist anymore. Not only did their home start to melt because of climate change, but the problem only increases with plastic pollution.
The danger of plastic (bags)
Plastic bags are everywhere, even in the Arctic! Can you believe it ? It was even captured by the Arctic expedition leader Jens Wikström. Indeed, he took a picture of two baby polar bears playing with a bin liner. He called that scene “devastating” because these baby polar bears could have eaten plastic and died.
And the worse is that often plastics are thought to be food so they end up in the stomach of marine species but also polar bears who are ingesting a lot of it.
And that’s terrible because ingesting plastic can cause some serious issues for polar bears. Indeed, since they have a “very narrow pyloric sphincter”, ingesting plastic is painful.
Scientific proof
According to a research, 25% of the bears that had been killed by hunters in southern Beaufort between 1996 and 2018 had plastic in their stomachs. And, this number will certainly increase if we do nothing to stop plastic pollution.
Another study had shown that bears “in poor body condition” are likely to become more aggressive. In a 2017 study, Geoff York, senior conservation director with the nonprofit conservation group Polar Bears International, and his colleagues showed that nutritionally stressed male polar bears are more likely to attack people. “These bears are potentially not just hungry, but in pain,” York said. So, what can we do to prevent polar bears from suffering and being aggressive?
How you can do beterre for polar bears
We may not be able to clean up the oceans, but there are certainly a lot of things we can do. A way to start is by replacing plastic bags by eco-friendly alternatives as we said in a previous article. Also, we can reduce our waste too and start composting so we avoid using plastic bags for garbage.
And, please always keep in mind that small actions have great impacts. So, let’s do our best to reduce and replace our plastic waste step by step. If we change our habits, it could have a much bigger impact like a butterfly effect. And, maybe we could protect polar bears and offer them a chance to live (maybe not forever) but at least beterre.
