Video: Injured and Starving Polar Bear Cub Turns to Humans for Help After Getting Tongue Stuck in Tin Can

A malnourished polar bear cub approached residents of Dikson in northern 🇷🇺Russia on Wednesday, apparently seeking help after its tongue got caught in a can of condensed milk.

Videos circulating on social media showed the bear near one resident’s home. The man asked the bear to come closer so that he could remove the can from its mouth.

However, as the video showed, when the man tried to pull the can out, the animal quickly pulled away — its tongue still stuck in the can.

The bear was a female named Monetochka, the Daily Mail reported.

In response to reports of the struggling bear, Nornickel — a Russian nickel and palladium mining and smelting company — sponsored a rescue team to treat the bear.

The team, which included workers from the Moscow Zoo, flew 2,125 miles from Moscow to Dikson to rescue and treat the injured animal, according to the Daily Mail.

The rescuers arrived at the Arctic outpost in the evening, delayed by bad weather, according to Newsweek.

“After disturbing reports about a bear that came out to people with a metal can of condensed milk in its mouth in the village of Dikson in the north of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, an emergency meeting of the working group on the polar bear cub rescue program was held,” Moscow Zoo Director-General Svetlana Akulova said.