It’s Polar Bear Week, founded by our partners Polar Bears International.
The week coincides with the fall polar bear migration to Churchill, Manitoba, where polar bears gather to wait for freeze-up on Hudson Bay so they can return to hunting seals. Polar Bear Week was founded to raise awareness of importance of sea ice to polar bears—and why we must take action on climate change to ensure their survival.
A polar bear’s hunting, eating and denning patterns completely depend on Arctic sea ice, and if the ice continues to shrink at the current rate, we could see the Arctic devoid of Summer sea ice by 2050 and Polar Bears extinct before the turn of the century.
Using less energy produced by fossil fuels reduces carbon emissions and can slow and even stop global warming, saving the sea ice and, as a result polar bears and their livelihoods.
To mark the week, we’re raising funds for polar bear projects and offering you the chance to own an absolutely magnificent (and huge) likeness of Yorkshire Wildlife Park’s beloved Victor by running our very own (virtual) charity auction. The image of Victor was taken Martin Fowkes who runs Wild Safari Photography and is a whopping 96cm wide x 111cm tall – it’s sure to make a statement on any wall.Find out more and place your bid here
In light of the pandemic, this year’s Polar Bear week will allow people to get involved from home. Polar Bears International have suggested a week-long programme of activities to get involved with, which we have niftily adapted for our WildLife Foundation supporters!
- Follow Polar Bears international on their social platforms, and tune into the live Polar Bear Cam here .
- Find out more about polar bears on the WildLife Foundation website, and Polar Bears International’s dedicated pages. You can also tune into PBI’s Tundra Connections broadcasts for educational webcasts and fun, more casual live chats.
- Speak up about climate change! Find out how you can write to your MP about climate change here.
- Support an energy shift. You can get involved with our 18 Degrees or Below Campaign here: help us reduce carbon emissions and the resulting devastating effects on the global climate. By encouraging everybody to ensure their home thermostat is set to 18 degrees or below, we can collectively reduce a huge amount of C02 emissions that would otherwise be excessively wasted.
- Open up and TALK about climate change. Share your concerns AND solutions: explore PBI’s Climate Change 101, with key facts and figures that you can post on social media here,
- Community: discover community projects that tackle climate change here.
- Help polar bears by supporting our work:
