A videograb shows veterinarians trying to remove the milk can from polar bear's mouth.

Gulf Today Report

Veterinarians rescued a young female polar bear after the animal got a condensed milk can stuck in it's mouth in Russia’s remote Dikson settlement in the Arctic.

Video showed a team from the Moscow Zoo sent by the Russian Natural Resources watchdog tranquillised the animal with a dart, removed the sharp metal from its mouth and treated the cuts to its tongue.

The bear, named Monetochka, was transported from Dikson to its natural environment, with a supply of fish left for the animal to eat as it would not be able to hunt on its own for some time.

The experts also attached a medical device to the bear's tongue to check on its vital signs. 

The video showed veterinarians scatter fish so that when the bear wakes up it has food.

Animal welfare groups and social media users from around the world have hailed the noble move.

The invasion of dozens of ravenous polar bears three years ago captured headlines around the world, with images of groups of animals gorging on rubbish in an open garbage dump in a remote Russian village.

Scientists and conservationists warned that it was just one of a growing number of incidents showing the threat food waste poses to the at-risk animals.

Polar bears are acutely threatened by climate change, with the Arctic region warming about three times faster than the global average, meaning there is less sea ice that the animals rely on to hunt for food.

In the new analysis, researchers looked at how discarded food, particularly in garbage dumps, is drawing polar bears towards human communities and into danger.