February 27th is internationally recognized as Polar Bear Day. This day was selected because during this time of the year, polar bear mothers and their cubs are sleeping in their dens.
The polar bear species has been faced with many challenges in recent decades. On this day, as polar bears rest, scientists take notes of their dens, behavior, and changes over time, helping them understand the challenges facing this species.
Biologists believe polar bears started walking the Earth around 150,000 years ago. During that time, the only humans they interacted with were those who dared to live in the freezing temperatures of the Arctic.
As humans grew in number, polar bears began being hunted in greater frequency, which led to a serious decline in their population.
Presently, the threats polar bears face hasn’t diminished, but rather grown. Polar bears now have to battle climate change and oil spills on top of hunting. These threats are directly killing the species, but also indirectly impacting them by drastically changing their habitat and environment, leaving them struggling to adapt.
For those reasons today was selected as Polar Bear Day. The day serves to not only bring light to these issues, but also to help drive change towards better treatment of polar bears and their environment.
The creators of the day, Polar Bear International, are a charity whose goal is to help conserve the polar bear species and their habitat. They are dedicated to studying polar bears and advocating for them by helping pass laws and spreading awareness on the species and their challenges.
They also have many options for those who are inspired to take part in helping, this could be through donations or by partaking in a bigger challenge to help fundraise for the cause.
Many other organizations, like the WWF (World Wildlife Fund), also work towards helping polar bears against these threats.
As an individual, the best one can do is raise awareness, help spread the word, and work towards decreasing your carbon footprint as well as that of places you interact with.
