ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- The population of polar bears in parts of Alaska and northwestern Canada has declined by about 40 percent in the first decade of the 2000s, a new study says.
The number of polar bears found near the southern Beaufort Sea dropped to 900 from 2000 to 2010, most drastically between 2004 and 2006. The population recovered in 2007 and began stabilizing in 2009, the study, conducted by researchers with the U.S. Geological Survey, found.