Veterinarians rescued a young female polar bear from the brink of death as the animal was found ‘shaking from hunger and thirst’ after metal was stuck in its mouth in the remote Russian settlement of Dikson in the Arctic.

A can of condensed milk got stuck in the bear’s mouth and left it unable to eat or drink, after which a team from the Moscow Zoo sent by the Russian Natural Resources Control Authority sedated the animal and removed the sharp metal from its mouth and treated the wounds on its tongue.

The bear, named Monetochka, is just two-years-old and was moved from Dikson to its natural habitat, with a stock of fish left for the animal to eat as it would not be able to hunt alone for some time.