Polar bears are disappearing fast from the Western part of Hudson Bay, on the southern tip of the Canadian Arctic, according to a new government survey. The number of female bears and cubs in particular has seen a dramatic decline. Researchers have flown over the region – which includes the town of Churchill, a tourist destination touted as the “polar bear capital of the world” – every five years to count the number of bears and extrapolate population trends. During the last survey in late August and early September 2021, the results of which were released earlier this month, they spotted 194 bears and, based on that count, estimated a total population of 618 bears, down from 842 five years earlier. “Comparison to aerial surveys estimates from 2011 and 2016 suggests that the WH (Western Hudson Bay population) may be decreasing in abundance,” the study said. It also “revealed significant declines in the abundance of adult female and subadult bears (cubs) between 2011 and 2021.” “The observed declines are consistent with long-standing predictions regarding the demographic effects of climate change on polar bears,” the researchers said.