Filmmakers “Stood There Crying” As They Helplessly Filmed A Polar Bear Starving To Death (VIDEO)

Climate change is gradually driving polar bears to extinction. Photographer Paul Nicklen and filmmakers from Sea Legacy captured the following heartbreaking video of a polar bear starving to death.

The filmmakers shared the video along with pictures of the devastating moment when they discovered the poor polar bear that was slowly dying while searching for food.

Nicklen and the filmmakers came across the polar bear on the Baffin Islands in Canada.

The dreadfully graphic pictures demonstrated the starving bear, with its skin dropping of its bony body, while the animal was searching for any sign of foodstuff to save itself from imminent death.

Nicklen, the photographer, grew up in the far north of Canada, so he was used to seeing bears, but because of the change in climate, his memories were a lot different from this encounter.

As Nick told National Geographic, he and the filmmakers stood there crying; they were filming with tears rolling down their cheeks.

He also said that they wanted to intervene but felt powerless with no tranquilizer gun nor high-fat animal meat.

Therefore, they decided that capturing the moment on film at least would be the best way to raise awareness of the danger in which polar bears are.

Polar bears rely mostly on sea ice to hunt for their primary source of food – seals. However, because of the alarming rate at which the ice is melting, grizzly bears are currently competing in their territory.

Watch the heartbreaking video below:

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 Dec 5, 2017 at 8:52am PST