New Delhi: Polar bears are known as one of the most fierce predators today and occupy the frigid region of the Arctic.
They are big, fuzzy and cuddly, they are currently a part of the endangered species list, which is why they are strongly protected and as per conservationists, their population is doing well.
But is it, really? This is a question a put up by wildlife photographer Kerstin Langenberger, who shared a haunting image taken by her of an extremely emaciated polar bear up in Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean.
Climate change is slowly revealing its fierce presence in the Arctic, which is causing glacial calvings and melting of ice sheets, as a result of which, food for the polar bears is becoming scarce.
Langenberger writes, “With the pack ice retreating further and further north every year, they tend to be stuck on land where there's not much food. In the first year, they lose their first cub. In the second year, they lose their second (and last) cub. Only once I have seen a mother with a nearly independent cub. Only a few times I have seen beautifully fat mothers with beautifully fat young. Many times I have seen horribly thin bears, and those were exclusively females - like this one here. A mere skeleton, hurt on her front leg, possibly by a desperate attempt to hunt a walrus while she was stuck on land”.
If this is not controlled soon, one of the species ranked number one on the food chain will become extinct.
This is not just a huge mark on wildlife, but on the entire biodiversity as a whole.
Although Langenberger posted this 11 months ago, it has surfaced again recently and with good reason. The effects of climate change should be known far and wide and the image of the poor polar bear is a sad, but hard-hitting indication of the terrifying effect that climate change has upon us.
Check out Kerstin Langenberger's post below.
