International Polar Bear Day: Yorkshire Wildlife Park celebrates 10 years of 'Project Polar'

If there’s one place to celebrate International Polar Bear Day, Tuesday (Feb 27), it’s Yorkshire Wildlife Park and this is because it is home to eight polar bears – the world’s largest collection of polar bears.

Yorkshire Wildlife Park, home to eight polar bears, recently hosted the International Polar Bear Conference where experts in conservation met to agree strategies to protect species numbers and share knowledge about the bears both in zoos and wildlife parks and in the wild.

At Yorkshire Wildlife Park they are dedicated to protecting polar bears and this year celebrate the 10th anniversary of “Project Polar” – which helps focus attention on the fight to save the iconic Arctic species.

The conference was boosted by the Wildlife Foundation, a charity based at the park, which announced an annual £10,000 donation to the Polar Bears International (PBI) - an organisation dedicated to the conservation of the species.

The Foundation has also supported a study of polar bear mums and cubs in Svalbard, Norway, looking at the various impacts on maternal denning.

"A couple years ago we welcomed our mum Flocke and her three cubs, Tala, Indy and Yuma,” said the park’s senior carnivore ranger, Amy Bowden.

“The Wildlife Foundation supports Polars Bears International, whose mission is to protect the wild Polar Bears.

“This year we are celebrating 10 years being an arctic ambassador for PBI. The reduction in sea ice is causing our polar bears to have to swim for further and longer. This is reducing their fat stores and making it harder for Polar Bears to survive.”

Polar bears are classified by the IUCN as Vulnerable (VU) based on a projected reduction in global population size due to loss of sea ice habitat.

Polar Bear mum Flocke and daughter Tala enjoyed being in the spotlight in their reserve as the park welcomed International Polar Bear Day (today Tuesday), a date chosen to coincide with the time that mums and cubs come out of their dens after winter hibernation.

Scientists predict that Polar Bears may become extinct by the end of the century unless action is taken to mitigate man-made climate change. Still, collaborators are stepping up efforts to protect the vulnerable species.

“International Polar Bear Day is an incredibly important reminder of the vulnerability of this wonderful species,” said Yorkshire Wildlife Park’s Director of Animals Charlotte McDonald.

"The Polar Bear Conference showed us how effective collaborative work can be and how global leaders and experts need to come together to protect these animals.”