Two polar bear cubs fighting over some plastic they found in a remote part of Alaska

Heart-breaking photographs show two polar bear cubs fighting over some plastic rubbish they found on a beach in a remote part of Alaska.

The cubs are pictured battling it out over the plastic pollution, which includes a gallon milk jug full of sludge and scraps of discarded packaging.

Two of the young bears play tug-of-war with a piece of litter and another image shows the infant bear gnawing on a plastic container.

One of the bears is also seen with a piece of soggy plastic hanging out of its mouth as the pair sit by the water.  

Photographer Danny Sullivan from Los Angeles said the distressing images show the effect plastic pollution is having on local wildlife, even in remote parts of the Alaskan wilderness, and believes climate change is a factor in the animals finding the rubbish.  

A polar bear sticking its snout into a rubbish plastic container the animals had found miles from anywhere in remote Alaska

The young polar bears were pictured gnawing on the plastic packaging in Alaska. One has some litter in its mouth while the other tried to eat the contents of a discarded gallon milk jug 

The sibling cubs were pictured investigating their latest ‘toy’, with one was sticking its snout inside the abandoned packaging 

The 58-year-old captured his stark sequence whilst shooting in Kaktovik, Alaska, earlier this year. 

Sullivan said: ‘The shots were taken in early October, in previous years that whole area would have been five foot under by then. They wouldn’t have had a chance to get to the plastic, it would’ve been buried. 

‘It was a good five degrees warmer than it should have been so the ice was actually starting to form at the end of the month, rather than the start. It shortens the window for the polar bears’ hunting season so it’s sure to have a knock on effect soon enough.

‘That’s not really the point though – the plastic shouldn’t have been there in the first place. What was a plastic gallon jug doing out here in far-flung Alaska? It just goes to show that what we’re doing is having an effect everywhere. Plastic floats. This could’ve come from anywhere and now there’s every chance one of these young bears has ingested it.’

Sullivan, who was helping his wife Shayne McGuire on one of her photographic tours of the far north, was unable to intervene and remove the plastic, as doing so would’ve put his life at risk.

A bear unaware that the plastic it found on the Alaskan shoreline could prove harmful if it ingested the discarded packaging 

One of the bears was seen with a piece of soggy plastic hanging out of its mouth as another looked for food on the ground 

The mother polar bear watches on as her young play with the plastic litter they found by the side of the water in Alaska 

A cub trying to eat its recent plastic find as the pair of siblings scavenge on a remote Alaskan beach for any food to eat 

‘I was watching the cubs nurse with their mum when one suddenly went running off,’ he said.

‘I followed him and so did its brother. Before you know it they’re sitting there playing with the plastic and there’s nothing we can do. 

‘If we tried to stop them then mumma bear is going to have her say, and believe you me, she isn’t going to take any prisoners when it comes to protecting her cubs. We try and clean up when we see trash and plastic but it’s not always possible – you can’t put yourself in jeopardy.

‘Polar bears love to investigate and explore new things and they usually do that with their mouths – I don’t know whether they swallowed any plastic but it wouldn’t surprise me at all.

‘It’s sad and it’s not the only time we’ve seen litter in the most secluded, beautiful spots that are really in the middle of nowhere. This is what we’ve done to the planet and although we have the power to change it, hemp-derived bottles and other plastic substitutions aren’t mainstream yet and the corporations aren’t doing enough. We really are on a path to destroy our planet.

‘I really hope people see these photos and think ‘wow’, we really have to start changing the way we operate. Plastic rubbish has no place anywhere, but certainly not in wildlife hubs in Alaska.’

A curious polar bear cub wanders away from its mother and heads to the waterline in search for food. The pair of bears found plastic containers and packaging 

A huge mother polar bear keeping a keen eye on her brood in Alaska before the pair went wandering towards the shoreline in search of food