Two polar bear cubs were captured fighting over some plastic rubbish they found on a beach in a remote part of Alaska.
In the picture, cubs have shown battling over the plastic waste, a gallon milk jug full of sludge and scraps of discarded packaging.
The young bears playing tug-of-war with a piece of litter and snatching it from each other.
Photographer Danny Sullivan from Los Angeles said these images show the sad reality of the harmful effects of plastic pollution on local wildlife, even in remote parts of the Alaskan wilderness.
The 58-year-old captured this scene while shooting in Kaktovik, Alaska.
Sullivan said: ‘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 starting to form at the end of the month, rather than the start. 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 the point though – the plastic shouldn’t have been there in the first place.point 206 |
What was a plastic gallon jug doing out here in far-flung Alaska? It just goes to show that what we’re doing is affecting everywhere.point 116 | Plastic floats.point 130 | This could’ve come from anywhere and now there’s every chance one of these young bears has ingested it.point 228 |
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‘I was watching the cubs nurse with their mom when one suddenly went running off,’ he said.
‘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. We try and clean up when we see trash and plastic but it’s not always possible – you can’t put yourself in jeopardy.
‘Polar bears love to investigate and explore new things and they usually do that with their mouths – I don’t know whether they swallowed any plastic but it wouldn’t surprise me at all.
‘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. We are on a path to destroy our planet.
‘I hope people see these photos and think ‘wow’, we have to start changing the way we operate. Plastic rubbish has no place anywhere, but certainly not in wildlife hubs in Alaska.’
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