The article “Nose-to-nose with a polar bear? In Alaska, that’s just a normal day,” by journalist Rachel Walker, is about her trip to Alaska in an effort to visit and photograph the region’s polar bears. Walker was driven by the fear that polar bears are fast disappearing and she wanted to see them before it was too late. The journalist specifically details her visit to Kaktovik, a town located north-east of the Yukon river valley where she awaits the opportunity to see the polar bears. Kaktovik, Alaska
The polar bears are listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act, and have become an iconic symbol concerning the issue of climate change. The reason for this is that polar bears rely on sea ice to hunt their primary prey, seals. When in Kaktovik, there was no separation between the bears and humans, and to the journalist’s surprise, she was able to see and photograph many of the bears.