A very special day is almost upon us! Polar Bear Day on 27 February celebrates the world's largest bear, raising awareness about issues like climate change and oil exploration which threaten the existence of this impressive hunter.
Our photos of stranded polar bears in Alaska are stark reminders of the impacts of climate change, brought to people's attention by our puppet polar bears like Aurora, as well our activists campaigning to save the Arctic.
Polar Bear Day is the perfect time to think about how we can protect the magnificent bear’s Arctic home. Join over 6 million people and add your name to urge world leaders to declare an Arctic sanctuary and protect the polar bear’s home: http://bit.ly/1Avw6Xz
Stranded polar bear, in Barter Island, Alaska. As the Arctic sea ice minimum retreats, over 700 miles from the shore, bears must either head north or swim south to land, as the ice breaks up, reducing the amount of time they can spend hunting on the sea ice.
A stranded polar bear crosses from the barrier islands outside Kaktovik to feed at dusk from a whale carcass left by Inupiat whale hunters.
Polar bear on the ice in Hudson Bay, Canada.
© Roemmelt/Greenpeace 2008
Polar bears fighting for food in the snow. Churchill Bay, Canada
© Roemmelt/Greenpeace 2011
Stranded polar bears on Cross Island outside Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.
Two polar bears (a mother and her cub), observed from the deck of Greenpeace's Arctic Sunrise ship, while moored to an ice floe in the Fram Strait on the edge of the Arctic Ocean.
© Cobbing/Greenpeace 2011
A local keeps watch as a polar bear comes on shore outside the village of Kaktovik on barter Island, Alaska.
A Greenpeace activist dressed as a polar bear appears by red telephone boxes in central London, demanding global action to protect the Arctic.
© Dalziel/Greenpeace 2012
A polar bear mother and her young jumping and swimming, north of Svalbard.
© Beumer/Greenpeace 2013
The world's largest polar bear (Aurora) leads thousands to defy Shell's injunction against Greenpeace.
© Buus/Greenpeace 2013
A polar bear in drifting and unconsolidated sea ice in Kane Basin, off Cape Clay. Polar bears cannot survive without sea ice, using it to raise their young, to travel and as a platform for hunting seals.
© Cobbing/Greenpeace 2009
A Greenpeace activist dressed as polar bear is arrested by Russian police during a protest outside Moscow's Statoil office, against the company's plans to drill for oil in the Russian Arctic jointly with Rosneft, an integrated oil company owned by the Government of Russia.
© Sinyakov/Greenpeace 2013
An adult polar bear that approached the Arctic Sunrise in the sea ice west of Svalbard. Polar bears are ever-curious and will often approach ships that are frozen into or breaking through the sea ice. This bear is a member of the Barents Sea / Svalbard population which is doing comparatively well. Though other polar bear populations in the Arctic are becoming severely affected by the loss of sea ice in the Arctic.
© Cobbing/Greenpeace 2011
Add your name to help protect the polar bear's Arctic home: http://bit.ly/1Avw6Xz
