The images and video footage captured is disturbing and heartbreaking indeed as the bear can be seen weathered and bony, the white hair's coat reduced to a thin layer hanging off its frame as it drags its legs behind it, struggling to keep up.
The images and video footage captured is disturbing and heartbreaking indeed as the bear can be seen weathered and bony, the white hair's coat reduced to a thin layer hanging off its frame as it drags its legs behind it, struggling to keep up.Instagram/Paul Nicklen

A "soul-crushing" footage of a polar bear starving and in its final moments of life has surfaced online, after it reduced the filmmaker and his entire crew to tears. 

Scavenging for food in a rubbing bin, the polar bear can be seen stringing on to life – barely – and scientists believe the root cause of it all is global warming.

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Photographer Paul Nicklen and his crew from the Sea Legacy spotted the bear on the Canadian Baffin Islands this summer – one of the places to have been largely hit by the adversities of global warming.

The images and video captured are disturbing and heartbreaking indeed as the bear can be seen weathered and bony, the white hair's coat reduced to a thin layer hanging off its frame as it drags its legs behind it, struggling to keep up.

polar bear
The starving polar bear scanvenging for food.Instagram/Paul Nicklen

Speaking to National Geographic, Paul said: "We stood there crying, filming with tears rolling down our cheeks."

My entire @Sea_Legacy team was pushing through their tears and emotions while documenting this dying polar bear. It’s a soul-crushing scene that still haunts me, but I know we need to share both the beautiful and the heartbreaking if we are going to break down the walls of apathy. This is what starvation looks like. The muscles atrophy. No energy. It’s a slow, painful death. When scientists say polar bears will be extinct in the next 100 years, I think of the global population of 25,000 bears dying in this manner. There is no band aid solution. There was no saving this individual bear. People think that we can put platforms in the ocean or we can feed the odd starving bear. The simple truth is this—if the Earth continues to warm, we will lose bears and entire polar ecosystems. This large male bear was not old, and he certainly died within hours or days of this moment. But there are solutions. We must reduce our carbon footprint, eat the right food, stop cutting down our forests, and begin putting the Earth—our home—first. Please join us at @sea_legacy as we search for and implement solutions for the oceans and the animals that rely on them—including us humans. Thank you your support in keeping my @sea_legacy team in the field. With @CristinaMittermeier #turningthetide with @Sea_Legacy #bethechange #nature #naturelovers This video is exclusively managed by Caters News. To license or use in a commercial player please contact info@catersnews.com or call +44 121 616 1100 / +1 646 380 1615”

A post shared by Paul Nicklen (@paulnicklen) on

While dragging its legs behind is most likely due to muscle atrophy from lack of food, the loss of ice had a huge role to play in that too, as polar bears mostly rely on platforms of ice to reach their preys.

polar bear
While the dragging its legs behind is most likely due to muscle atrophy from lack of food, the loss of ice had a huge role to play in that too, as polar bears mostly rely on platforms of ice to reach their preys.Instagram/Paul Nicklen

The feeding of wild polar bears is considered illegal in Canada, but even if the crew was allowed to feed, the bear's condition was reportedly beyond any help. "Of course, that crossed my mind, but it's not like I walk around with a tranquillizer gun or 400 pounds of seal meat," Paul added.

The photographer took to Instagram to share the haunting reality of melting ice caps due to global warming, and mentioned that the bear had probably died, "within hours or days of this moment."

polar bear
The polar bear in its final moments.Instagram/Paul Nicklen

Also writing in the caption to his post, he said: "My entire Sea Legacy team was pushing through their tears and emotions while documenting this dying polar bear."

And they weren't the only ones as the viral video has left a deep impact on multiple social media users too.

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