A starving polar bear has strayed hundreds of kilometres from its natural Arctic habitat and wandered, exhausted, into the major Russian industrial city of Norilsk in northern Siberia.
The female bear, visibly weak and seemingly ill, lay despondently on the ground for hours on Tuesday in Norilsk’s suburbs, its feet caked in mud, occasionally rising to sniff around for food.
It is the first polar bear seen in the city in more than 40 years, according to local environmentalists.
“She is still moving around a factory, under observation by police and the emergency services, who are ensuring her safety and those of residents,” environmental services official Alexander Korobkin told AFP.
The bear was first spotted on Sunday evening in an industrial area north-east of central Norilsk, Korobkin said.
A team of specialists are set to arrive Wednesday to inspect the animal and decide its fate.
Oleg Krashevsky, a local wildlife expert who filmed the polar bear close up, said it was unclear what had brought the animal to the city, although it was possible it had simply got lost. He said it had watery eyes and could clearly not see well.
The climate crisis has been damaging polar bears’ sea-ice habitats and forced them to scavenge more for food on land, bringing them into contact with people and inhabited areas.
A state of emergency was declared in a remote inhabited area of northern Russian earlier this year when dozens of hungry polar bears were seen scavenging for food and entering public buildings and homes.
State wildlife experts are expected to arrive in Norilsk on Wednesday to assess the bear’s condition.
Local residents in the city known for nickel production came out to photograph the bear and look at it as police prevented them from getting too close.
This report contains material from Reuters and Agence France-Presse
