A polar bear has been rescued after getting its tongue stuck in a tin can and asking humans for help

• A polar bear in Russia has been rescued after getting its tongue stuck in a jagged can.
• The bear had been so desperate that it had approached humans for help.

A polar bear in northern Russia sought help from humans after getting its tongue stuck in a jagged can and was saved from starving to death by a specialist team that made a 2,000-mile rescue dash.

The two-year-old bear was spotted wandering up to homes in Dikson, a settlement in the Arctic, making it clear it needed some help after its tongue became lodged in a sharp-edged condensed milk container, reported the MailOnline.

Footage showed the distressed bear approaching one resident who had been standing on his porch in Dikson, northern Russia, reported The Mirror. The man attempts to remove the can from the polar bear's mouth, but it's wedged too deeply.

"The bear got so exhausted with the can it was coming to us and sticking its tongue out," One resident said, per The Mirror.

A rescue team of experts was dispatched from Moscow Zoo, 2,125 miles away, to save the bear from a slow, agonizing death.

Fortunately, the Moscow Zoo specialists were able to reach the emaciated young bear in time. Reuters reports that the team tranquilized her, carefully removed the can from her mouth with plyers, and treated her mouth cuts with antibiotics, which were not serious.

The anesthetized bear was then flown 50 miles by helicopter to a release area and laid carefully on the tundra. The Moscow Zoo team also left a feast of 110 pounds of fish for her when she awoke to help her recover from days without food.

"It's a bear cub, female, about two years old. The tin got stuck and its lid clamped down on the tongue. The animal spent a few days with a tongue stuck, and the tongue became swollen. The bear was unable to drink or eat. We successfully sedated her, removed the tin, and gave antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medications," Mikhail Alshinetsky, the chief vet of Moscow Zoo, said, per the Mail Online.

This week, scientists have raised concerns about polar bears losing their natural habitat to global warming and are reduced having to scavenge trash from human settlements.