A hungry polar bear roaming around an Arctic outpost in northern Russia has been rescued after getting its tongue caught in a can of condensed milk.
Residents of Dikson, one of the world’s northernmost settlements, sounded the alarm when the stricken two-year-old female was seen approaching huts in the village.
In video taken of the bear approaching humans – a rare occurrence – people can be heard telling it to give them the can and not be afraid before trying unsuccessfully to remove the tin.
A team from Moscow Zoo flew to the Krasnoyarsk region to tranquillise the animal with a dart, remove the sharp metal from its mouth and treat cuts to its tongue.
Mikhail Alshinetsky, a zoo vet, said the bear was thin and a little dehydrated but its injuries were expected to heal.
The zoo team will observe the animal for several days before taking it to a natural habitat with a supply of fish.
“She will lie still long enough that we’ll be able to bring her to the place of release. Then we’ll give her an antidote and everything will be fine,” Mr Alshinetsky said.
Svetlana Akulova, director-general of the zoo, said: “The next important stage is her recovery from the anaesthesia. But our specialists will be nearby, watching the process.
“We hope that everything will be fine. We left some fish near the bear because she had been without food and water for quite a long time.”
Scientists have warned hungry polar bears are increasingly turning to rubbish dumps for food as climate change melts their icy habitats.
In a report this week, a team of Canadian and US researchers said human rubbish posed an emerging threat to vulnerable polar bear populations because they become more reliant on landfills near northern communities in places such as Russia, Canada and Alaska.
Polar bears are going hungry for longer periods than ever because the Arctic Ocean is warming around four times more quickly than the rest of the world. The rising temperatures mean Arctic sea ice is melting earlier each spring and forming later each autumn.
Scientists fear most populations of these bears, officially classified as vulnerable to extinction, will disappear by 2100 unless greenhouse gas emissions are sharply curbed.
