ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – The first week of November marks International Polar Bear Week, an education week dedicated to spreading awareness about the ongoing sea ice issues that polar bears face daily.
“Polar bears are under a lot of different threats,” Sam Lavin, a curator at the Alaska Zoo, said. “The big one is that they’re losing their habitat.”
According to climate specialist Rick Thoman, changes in Alaska’s arctic sea ice are impacting the environment and the climate that wildlife species call home. Thoman told Alaska’s News Source earlier this week that the arctic’s multi-year “old ice” is gone. Each year, this results in a weaker ice pack to form.
“Every year the sea ice comes, you know, all the bears congregate on shore waiting for the sea ice to form up,” Lavin said. “Every year it comes a little later and disappears a little sooner.”
Polar bears are considered marine mammals, according to Lavin. The species, she said, relies on the sea ice to be able to access its food.
“We’re seeing this ice disappear. We’re going to see a species disappear along with it,” Lavin said. “Being able to show what an iconic species this is…and how charismatic they are and that they’re not just an animal that lives so far away, you can never imagine them.”
At the Alaska Zoo, two female polar bears, Cranbeary and Kova, help bring to life the lives of polar bears and the iconic role they play in Alaska. Cranbeary, according to the zoo, is 24 years old and arrived at the Alaska Zoo when she was around eight years old, from the Denver Zoo. Meanwhile, Kova arrived at the zoo just under four years ago as an orphan from Prudhoe Bay.
“Kova was found in Prudhoe Bay trying to get into trash cans, starving. We don’t know what happened to mom,” Lavin said. “She was clearly without her mother for quite a while and she needs her mom to teach her how to hunt.”
Kova is what Lavin said would be referred to as a ‘nuisance bear or wildlife’. Having Kova join the Alaska Zoo helps bring a personal understanding to how Alaskans interact with polar bears in their environment and the struggles polar bears are facing.
“Even though [Kova] it’s a sad story and we obviously would have loved it if she could have stayed with her mom and stayed a wild bear, it just kind of hits home and sort of almost forces your brain to imagine these places and the struggles that they face out there,” Lavin said.
The Alaska Zoo is part of the Polar Bears International Arctic Ambassador Center and is a first responder for Polar Bear emergencies on the North Slope.
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