National Geographic have released a video taken of a starving polar bear roaming a barren stretch of land in the Baffin Islands, and it has absolutely destroyed us.
Nat Geo photographer Paul Nicklen is the guy responsible for the footage, which shows the emaciated bear on a desperate hunt for food in a habitat made completely inhospitable by warming temperatures. Because there’s no snow or ice in the Canadian territory, the bears have no way of accessing their main food source, seals.
Unable to hunt, they are forced to scavenge from human refuse piles. It’s illegal for people to feed them, and many, like the male featured in the video, starve to death.
Nicklen said filming the frantic bear was a devastating experience, saying, “We stood there crying – filming with tears rolling down our cheeks.”
But he said that there was more behind his decision to share the video than simply making people cry (which, yeah, mission accomplished). He wants viewers of the footage to understand that this is one of the very real effects of a warming global climate.
When scientists say bears are going extinct, I want people to realise what it looks like. Bears are going to starve to death. This is what a starving bear looks like.
Nicklen also says that the urge to intervene did cross his mind – but, equipped only with his camera, there was nothing he could do.
“When scientists say bears are going extinct, I want people to realize what it looks like,” says photographer Paul Nicklen pic.twitter.com/foBaqXqOQ4
— National Geographic (@NatGeo) December 9, 2017
The internet is united in its outpouring of grief for the poor animal, and everything it represents.
Devastating. https://t.co/Oewgnm1hqW
— Jason Oxenbridge (@JOxenbridge) December 9, 2017
Tragic. Retweeting this feels insultingly insufficient. https://t.co/51sGyCfjNf
— Mark Demeny (@mdemeny) December 9, 2017
Wow. We’re going to see polar bears go extinct within our lifetime https://t.co/oc5hXl8lTn
— sam (@sam_thecreative) December 9, 2017
https://twitter.com/KatieKitt/status/939313212801024001
I had to watch like 10mins of cute cats so I can at least heal a bit of my crushed soul reading the full story on this. PEOPLE PLEASE WAKE UP. Climate change is slowly affecting wildlife and we have to act now if we want our children to have a good planet to live in!!! https://t.co/rFAXCryLm9
— Gabbi 🌻 (@gabsmckd) December 9, 2017
My heart and soul just broke into a million pieces. How can there be people who still don’t believe in climate change? 😭😭😭😭😭 https://t.co/F3eFmjNczS
— G 🐼 (@konoshojo) December 9, 2017
Here’s hoping this terrible footage can do the work of changing people’s minds about the seriousness of climate change – before it’s too late.
