Heartbreaking photos show starving polar bear cubs fighting over plastic that has washed up on the shores of Alaska.
Taken by wildlife photographer Danny Sullivan, the images show two young polar bear cubs fighting over a piece of plastic as they become hungrier and hungrier.
Polar bears spend a lot of time on the sea ice to hunt seals during the winter. Without sea ice, they won’t have food, which results in heartbreaking scenes like this one.
In a series of photos, the polar bear cubs scrap over plastic waste. In another photograph, they can be seen trying to eat a piece of trash.
In one of the sad photos, one of the cubs has got its nose stuck inside a milk bottle.
The photographer said the photos were taken in Katovik, Alaska. “The shots were taken in early October, in previous years that whole area would have been five foot under by then.
“They wouldn’t have had a chance to get to the plastic, it would’ve been buried. It was a good five degrees warmer than it should have been so the ice was actually starting to form at the end of the month, rather than the start.”
Sullivan added: “It shortens the window for the polar bears’ hunting season so it’s sure to have a knock-on effect soon enough.
“That’s not really the point, though – the plastic shouldn’t have been there in the first place.
“What was a plastic gallon jug doing out here in far-flung Alaska? It just goes to show that what we’re doing is having an effect everywhere.
“Plastic floats. This could’ve come from anywhere and now there’s every chance one of these young bears has ingested it.”
Sullivan continued: “I was watching the cubs nurse with their mum when one suddenly went running off. I followed him and so did its brother.
“Before you know it they’re sitting there playing with the plastic and there’s nothing we can do.
“If we tried to stop them then momma bear is going to have her say, and believe you me, she isn’t going to take any prisoners when it comes to protecting her cubs.”
He added: “It’s sad and it’s not the only time we’ve seen litter in the most secluded, beautiful spots that are really in the middle of nowhere.
“This is what we’ve done to the planet and although we have the power to change it, hemp-derived bottles and other plastic substitutions aren’t mainstream yet and the corporations aren’t doing enough.”
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Replaced!