Pathetic, Scientists Say 25 Percent Of Polar Bear Food Is Plastic Waste

JAKARTA - Climate change is forcing polar bears closer to human settlements, making a quarter of the polar bear's diet plastic, Russian researchers say, warning plastic could kill animals.

Polar bears are forced to scavenge for food on land as climate change destroys their sea ice habitat. The animals came into contact with humans more and more frequently, and images of them wandering into Siberian cities and rummaging through trash in Russia's Arctic were garnering attention.

This increased contact led scientists to examine the intestinal contents and feces of polar bears eating from landfills, Ivan Mizin, deputy director of Russia's Arctic National Park, told Interfax, citing The Moscow Times.

"When polar bears visit landfills, 25 percent of their stomach contents and feces (consisting of) various plastic waste, bags, wrappers, and others," Mizin said.

"Exceeding a certain percentage threshold means the animal will start to die," Mizin warned on the sidelines of a forum for Arctic tourism and marine debris in the northwestern Russian city of Murmansk in 2019.

Mizin said, not only polar bears, arctic birds and marine mammals were also found to have plastic in their bodies.

He further explained that marine debris, including plastic, although not as big as in the tropics and the Equator, is the cause of the death of marine mammals.

He cited the unprecedented 2015 case of a bowhead whale stranded in the Arctic after being entangled in a fishing net.

"This is the first finding, there is no documented data about it happening before," said Mizin.

In December 2019, a group of polar bears had gathered around a village in Russia's Far East, forcing residents into self-locking. Residents of Ryrkapiy, population 600, are said to have organized patrols and canceled all public gatherings, including New Year's celebrations, to prevent polar bears from making contact with local residents.

Sightings of polar bears are becoming increasingly common in Russia as climate change melts their sea ice habitat and forces them to scavenge for food on land.

"Almost all bears are thin, there are adults and young animals, including cubs that differ in age from their mothers," said Tatyana Minenko, head of the Ryrkapiy polar bear patrol in the Chukotka autonomous district, as quoted by WWF.

WWF Russia said the 56 polar bears descended near Ryrkapiy from neighboring Cape Kozhevnikov in search of food after the walrus they had eaten left.

"Bears also like to visit villages to see how people live and find food. This poses a problem of food waste management," said Mikhail Stishov, coordinator of WWF Russia's Arctic biodiversity project.

According to Stishov, the mass migration of polar bears southward is the result of unusually warm weather caused by climate change, which has thinned the ice sheet. Until the ice sheet becomes thick enough again, bears will remain on land and look for food along the coast.

"Polar bear encounters are becoming more frequent, and we must adapt and find ways to avoid conflict between humans and animals."