Almost Died As A Result Of A Metal Can Stuck In Its Mouth, This Polar Bear Was Successfully Rescued And Released Back Into Its Habitat.
JAKARTA - Veterinarians have released a polar bear back into its natural habitat following an earlier rescue of the animal from near-fatal suffocation from a metal can stuck in its mouth in Siberia's Krasnoyarsk Territory.
The animal was nicknamed Monetochka (Little Coin) and was supplied with fish, Russian nickel and palladium mining and smelting company Norilsk Nickel said on its Telegram channel on Friday.
"The polar bear cub nicknamed Monetochka was brought 60-100 km from the Dikson settlement to its natural habitat, and provided with a temporary supply of fish as the animal is unable to hunt on its own now," the statement said.
Earlier, the head of Russia's environmental watchdog Svetlana Radionova announced that a can of sweetened condensed milk was stuck in the mouth of the polar bear, which is in the Krasnoyarsk region.
The animal had to fight for its life as it was on the verge of death. The watchdog sent a veterinarian from Moscow to rescue the bear. Thanks to their efforts, the metal can was successfully removed.
"We came just in time. We saved him. We took a can out of the polar bear's mouth," Radionova wrote on her Telegram channel.
According to the official, the animal in trouble is the female bear, which has multiple sores on her tongue. The bear then underwent medical treatment for several days.
"We will be keeping an eye on the female bear to make sure all is well," Radionova wrote.
It is known that polar bears are listed in the International Red Book and the Russian Red Book. According to experts, there are currently 22,000 to 31,000 polar bears in the world. Polar bears, the largest land predators, spend most of their lives in drifting Arctic ice.