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Emaciated polar bear found in Russia taken for treatment

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This image taken from video released by @putoranatour/Oleg Krashevsky on Monday, June 17, 2019, shows a polar bear crossing a road in Norilsk, Russia. An emaciated polar bear has been sighted in a Russian industrial city in Siberia, far south of its normal hunting grounds. (Oleg Krashevsky@putoranatour via AP)

MOSCOW – An emaciated polar bear seen roaming around an industrial city in Russia far south of its normal sea ice hunting grounds is being transported to a zoo for examination and treatment.

The bear was spotted earlier this week in Norilsk, a city of 175,000 people that above the Arctic Circle but 400 kilometres (250 miles) inland from the sea ice polar bears normally hunt on.

Specialists from the Royev Ruchei Zoo in Krasnoyarsk, the regional capital, sedated the bear on Thursday then flew her to Krasnoyarsk on Friday.

Environmentalists say animals are being forced farther south to find food as the Arctic warms.

It was not clear how the bear got to Norilsk. The zoo said on social media it may have been held captive by poachers and then released.

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Abbey Westbury

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