Emaciated polar bear found in Russia taken for treatment

Emaciated polar bear found in Russia taken for treatment
This image taken from video released by @putoranatour/Oleg Krashevsky on Monday, June 17, 2019, shows a polar bear crossing a road in Norilsk, Russia. An emaciated polar bear has been sighted in a Russian industrial city in Siberia, far south of its normal hunting grounds. (Oleg Krashevsky@putoranatour via AP)

An emaciated polar bear seen roaming around an industrial city in Russia far south of its normal sea ice hunting grounds is being transported to a zoo for examination and treatment.

The bear was spotted earlier this week in Norilsk, a city of 175,000 people that above the Arctic Circle but 400 kilometers (250 miles) inland from the sea ice normally hunt on.

Specialists from the Royev Ruchei Zoo in Krasnoyarsk, the regional capital, sedated the bear on Thursday then flew her to Krasnoyarsk on Friday.

Environmentalists say animals are being forced farther south to find food as the Arctic warms.

It was not clear how the bear got to Norilsk. The zoo said on it may have been held captive by poachers and then released.

© 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Citation: Emaciated polar bear found in Russia taken for treatment (2019, June 21) retrieved 21 June 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2019-06-emaciated-polar-russia-treatment.html
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