Starving Polar Bear Get its Tongue Stuck in Tin Can, Can’t Eat Anything, Asks for Human Help
A starving polar bear has been approaching homes in an Artic outpost for help after getting its tongue caught inside a tin can.
Extraordinary footage shows the wild animal pleading for human help in Dikson, northern Russia, as it has been unable to eat after getting its tongue lodged in an empty can of condensed milk.
The polar bear can be seen approaching one resident who had been standing on his porch.
The man can be seen trying to remove the sharp-edged can from the polar bear’s mouth, but can only get so far as the animal’s tongue is wedged too deeply inside the can.
A team of vets arrived at the remote village after a 2,125 mile air and road journey plagued by bad weather and managed to sedate the female polar bear and remove the tin can.
Russian environmental watchdog chief Svetlana Radionova said today: ‘The polar bear was found some 1.9 miles from Dikson airport.
‘Vets managed to sedate her with the first shot, and removed the tin can. Now one of the vets is treating multiple cuts on the bear’s tongue.
‘The bear is a young female, weighing between 80 and 90kg.
‘It will be monitored for several days, and then returned to its natural habitat with a stack of fish.’
The plan is to move the polar bear away from the settlement.
Svetlana Akulova, general director of Moscow Zoo, said: ‘We have prepared 50kg of fish for the bear to help its recovery.’
Earlier, video showed the polar bear approaching the local residents and pleading for their help to remove the tin can.
Experts say polar bears would never normally approach humans in this way but the animal has become so desperate from hunger.
Before the vets arrived the animal was seen with its hind legs shaking from hunger and thirst.
‘The bear got so exhausted with the can it was coming to us and sticking its tongue out,’ said a resident.
‘But it was impossible to help without traumatising the bear, so people gave up.’
The bear most likely found the tin can at a rubbish dump while scavenging for food.
Dikson, with a population of 676, is one of the world’s most northerly settlements, named after Swedish explorer Baron Oscar Dickson.
