The BBC reported terrible news last week about polar bears: they are thriving. This is very annoying of them as it goes against the interests of environmental activists, polar bears being the very emblem, mascot and clickbait of climate change cataclysm. But the bears’ stubborn refusal to get the memo and starve has become too obvious to ignore.

The latest evidence comes from the Barents Sea, and the Norwegian-administered archipelago of Svalbard in particular, where bear numbers have been steadily increasing. Surprisingly, they are also getting fatter, according to measurements taken when bears are caught and weighed. This is despite a decline in sea-ice cover in the area, especially in autumn. Even more unexpectedly, the bears are fattest in or after years when the sea ice retreats farthest.

In Svalbard, bear numbers have been steadily increasing. Surprisingly, the bears are also getting fatter

The scientists admit this took them by surprise. ‘We predicted that body condition in adults would decline over time and that bears would be leaner in years with less available sea ice or in the spring following such years,’ write Jon Aars and colleagues, adding that from 2000 ‘both males, and females… increased in body condition for the following two decades’.

This follows a similar report the year before from the Chukchi Sea, north of the Bering Strait, where the bears are also thriving in both number and health as the sea........

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