International Polar Bear Day: Group hopes to conserve species through tracking

Organization helps protect polar bears by studying moms and cubs in their dens

Polar Bears International is celebrating International Polar Bear Day on Feb. 27. The group collects data on polar bear mothers and cubs in their dens to help understand and protect the species.

LOS ANGELES - International Polar Bear Day is on Feb. 27. It was created to celebrate the importance of polar bears and to help find solutions to protect them.

Polar Bears International was the group that founded the day. Polar bears are listed as "vulnerable" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, with an estimated 26,000 polar bears left on Earth.

While the species is the world's largest land predator, it's one of the most helpless of any mammal species when born — blind, toothless and the size of your hand. Less than half of all polar bear cubs make it to adulthood. That's why the protection of polar bear dens is so important.

KT Miller is the Director of Field Programs at Polar Bears International. She said this is "a super special time of year because the moms and their cubs have been curled up in their dens for man months and they're just about to emerge. So we're doing critical research to protect polar bear moms and cubs in Svalbard, Norway."

PBI is working on two special den projects. In one, the group is using radar to better locate bear dens, in order to protect them. In another project, a collaboration with the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, the bears are monitored using remote camera systems.

"We get all kinds of data on how many cubs the female comes out with, how healthy they are, how healthy the mom is, how long they stick around," Miller said. "All this information is super important for understanding polar bears and especially polar bear moms and cubs."

The loss of sea ice from a warming climate is impacting polar bears and their ability to hunt for food. Some polar bear populations, like the one in Canada's western Hudson Bay, have dropped by 50%.

As part of PBI's International Polar Bear Day celebrations, the group is holding events like live chats with scientists, a live stream of the Northern Lights and more. The group is also raising money to help protect mother polar bears and their cubs. More information about the organization and International Polar Bear Day can be found at polarbearsinternational.org.