Photo: Rolf Hicker Photography
A few weeks back, Hicker photographed a grizzly bear family — a mother and her two cubs — near the shores of Canada’s Knight Inlet,according to CNN. The images immediately sparked concern when people noticed how emaciated the animals were.
“The bears are starving and it breaks my heart seeing this unfold,” the photographer wrote on Facebook. “We saw this sow with her two little ones a couple of weeks ago and then we saw her again only a few days ago. I have no idea how she would make it through the winter without salmon.”
The cause? Many experts are pointing to climate change as a factor.
“The impacts of this climate change disaster has been coastwide,” Joy Thorkelson, president of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers’ Union, saidat a press conference in September,according to CNN.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada also noted that “environmental conditions have been warmer than average… affecting all life stages of Pacific salmon returning in 2019.” In fact just last month, the rising temperaturescaused a heatwave in neighboringAlaska that killed large numbers of salmon in the area due to heat stress.
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As the salmon population continues to decrease, bears are often forced to relocate to new areas in search of food.
“They were approaching our camps, and we are seeing them in areas we rarely ever see bears,” Rick Snowdon, owner of Spirit of The West Adventures, told CNN. He added that he’s “seen several grizzlies with cubs” and that “they definitely looked lightweight.”
And as hibernation time approaches, female bears who enter the five- to seven-month sleep leaner than usual may emerge in the spring with fewer — and smaller — cubs, ultimately impacting their survival and the grizzly bear population, according toParks Canada.
Two years ago, a startling photo ofan emaciated polar bear spotted in Canadasparked similar concerns about wildlife food sources and habitats.
“It’s a soul-crushing scene that still haunts me, but I know we need to share both the beautiful and the heartbreaking if we are going to break down the walls of apathy,” photographer Paul Nicklen toldNational Geographicat the time. “This is what starvation looks like. The muscles atrophy. No energy. It’s a slow, painful death. When scientists say polar bears will be extinct in the next 100 years, I think of the global population of 25,000 bears dying in this manner.”
source: people.com
