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24 July 2023 Anthropogenic waste ingestion of Southern Beaufort Sea polar bears, Alaska (2010–2020)
Raphaela Stimmelmayr, Carla SimsKayotuk, Mike Pederson, Gay Sheffield, Rita Frantz, Jared Nayakik, Billy Adams
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Abstract

We report on anthropogenic waste ingestion and associated foreign-body gastric pathology in polar bears (Ursus maritimus) within the North Slope Borough, Alaska, from stomach content analysis of 42 bears during 2010 to 2020. User plastics and rubbish other than plastics were observed in 28.6% (12/42) and 11.9% (5/42), respectively. Acute gastritis was present in 33.3% (14/42) of polar bear stomachs. Fifty percent of the acute gastritis cases (n = 7) were observed in animals with user plastics in their stomach content. The findings of our multiyear polar bear stomach-content analysis emphasize that anthropogenic waste ingestion is common in polar bears of the Southern Beaufort Sea subpopulation. For the future, controlling access to anthropogenic foods (e.g., garbage dumps, stored wildlife resources) will be an important component of proactive human polar bear management on the North Slope, Alaska, and for the entire Arctic.

Raphaela Stimmelmayr, Carla SimsKayotuk, Mike Pederson, Gay Sheffield, Rita Frantz, Jared Nayakik, and Billy Adams "Anthropogenic waste ingestion of Southern Beaufort Sea polar bears, Alaska (2010–2020)," Ursus 2023(34e5), 1-7, (24 July 2023). https://doi.org/10.2192/URSUS-D-22-00013.1
Received: 1 September 2022; Accepted: 4 April 2023; Published: 24 July 2023
KEYWORDS
Alaska
anthropogenic waste
food conditioning
health
human–wildlife conflict
plastics
polar bear
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