The polar bears are dying and have been considered a threatened species of animals for quite a number of years already. With the decrease in ice formation over the past years, many conservation groups have begun to request that the polar bears be an endangered species of animals instead. There is a difference between the two categories.
As an endangered species of animals, the polar bears will get more attention, funds, and support. It will stop the sharp population decline which now estimates to drop considerably over the next 20 years. That is, unless something is done now.

To explain why ice formation is essential to the survival of the polar bears, one must study more about their feeding habits. Polar bears basically feed on seals and fish. They need the ice to help them find the food and as a place to rest after swimming. Without the ice, they cannot rest from swimming which means they will drown. They will also be unable to move around to find their food, and could die from starvation.
The ice formation problem is a direct effect of pollution and how people have neglected to predict the outcome of using too much products that have created the global warning problem.
With less ice to work with, polar bears have been seen entering nearby villages and towns in search of food. Naturally, they are shot at and killed. To date, there have been 2 bears that have died this way.
At the rate of decline global warming is affecting the entire planet, many scientists agree that the polar bear population will dwindle to almost zero. Even if they do survive with less ice, the female polar bears will be unable to reproduce because of the warmer climate. The main reason for this is because female polar bears tend to eat more before hibernating and giving birth. If they are unable to provide their unborn babies with sufficient nutrition, the unborn baby will not even survive the embryo stage.
Sadly, polar bears are also being deliberately killed for their body parts by some unscrupulous groups. Hunters have been delirious about catching a polar bear because it is a trophy to have the head or any other body part displayed to all to see and admire.
Related site: http://www.konicaminolta.com/kids/endangered_animals/

