A visibly feeble and exhausted female polar bear was spotted on Sunday in the busy industrial town of Norilsk in northern Siberia. The starving polar bear has strayed hundreds of kilometres from its natural Arctic habitat and wandered, exhausted into the city.
The animal lay despondently on ground for hours on Tuesday in Norilsk's suburbs, its feet soaked in mud, seldom rising to sniff around for food.
Local environmentalists say this is the first polar bear seen in the city in about 40 years.
According to the Siberian Times, the bear is believed to have crossed the Taymyr Peninsula to reach the industrial city of Norilsk.
Photographs of the bear show it crossing roads amidst full traffic as bemused drivers look on. It can also be seen sniffing around for food near industrial waste.
The animal is barely able to keep its eyes open and is almost unable to walk.
The local agencies have examined the animal from a distance. However, due to laws protecting endangered species, they are awaiting an approval from agencies in Moscow. Only then it could be decided whether the bear should be sedated and returned to the Arctic coast ¨C or alternatively sent to a zoo.
Anatoly Nikolaychyuk, head of Taymyr department of state hunting control, told the Siberian Times: ¡°We got as close as twenty metres, and the animal didn¡¯t react to the noise of the car.
¡°We decided not to go out of the car ¨C after all polar bears can jump up to six metres high. He looks quite healthy, of an average body built.
Siberian Times
Polar bears depend on Arctic ice for hunting. But the sea ice is shrinking rapidly in recent decades, threatening the very existence of polar bears. As a result, bears are left hungry ¨C especially during summer months when there is little for them to eat.
Per the National Snow and Ice Data Centre, 2019 has the seventh-lowest sea ice cover in the Arctic since they began collecting data 40 years ago.
The Arctic is facing vast melting of sea ice due to rising air and water temperature. At present, the Arctic is warming twice as fast compared to the rest of the world.
Scientists suspect polar bears will be driven to extinction in the next century, and the global population of 25,000 polar bears may have to face severe challenges looking for food.