
Volunteers are frantically battling to save animals at a Russian zoo after a river burst its bank and swamped the enclosures.

Several animals are already believed to have died at Zelyony Ostrov Park Zoo in Ussuriysk, Russia, following the incident late on Sunday.

Shocking pictures from the zoo show desperate brown bears climbing to the top of their cages in a bid to escape the rising water.

Others show rescue workers in boats attempting to feed the trapped, cold and wet creatures with bread and sugar wedged on a stick and shoved through the bars of their cages.

The private zoo was hit by rising flood waters after a river in the far eastern city of Ussuriysk burst its banks.

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There are concerns for the trapped animals because they have not been able to rest or sleep since the flood waters swept the private zoo

Several animals are already believed to have died at Zelyony Ostrov Park Zoo in Ussuriysk, Russia, while 14 bears and lion remain trapped

A soaked wolf trapped in its cage surveys the damage caused by the flood waters which ripped through the zoo late on Sunday

The bears have been forced to stand on their hind legs and cling to the bars with their front paws to keep their heads above the muddy water.

But several animals have already drowned in their cages while many were forced to stand upright for hours on end in order to keep their heads above the murky brown water.

Animals including a wolf, a lynx and the city's mascot, a female bear named Masyanya, all drowned in their cages on Sunday

The newspaper said goats at the zoo are reported to have been drowned, while wolves, boar and deer have been rescued.

But the 14 brown bears and a lion remain trapped in their half-submerged cages today.

Video broadcast on Russian state television showed the bears standing on their hind legs and clinging to the bars with their front paws to keep their heads above the muddy water.

Vera Blishch, identified in the TV report as a bear trainer, checked on their condition from a boat Monday and said they were suffering from cold and exhaustion.

She told Sky News: 'The animals could [have been] evacuated, their cages have wheels. I was calling the owner of the zoo, I was begging him to help, but no one listened.

'I wanted to get Masyanya bear out of her cage, she could have been saved, but they didn't let me.'

Different sources claim the reason the bears cannot be saved is either because the cages are sealed or because the keys have been lost in the flood.

The deluge of dirty river water which swept through the private zoo is believed to have been caused by Typhoon Goni.

An RIA Novosti news agency report showed volunteers gathering food and medicine for the surviving animals.

They will remain trapped in their cages until at east tomorrow morning.

One of the bears clings desperately to the bars of its cage in a bid to keep its head above the murky brown water which flooded the zoo

A bear trainer checked on their condition from a boat Monday and said all 14 of the bears were suffering from cold and a lack of sleep

Rescue workers on boats have been feeding the 14 brown bears bread and sugar in a bid to keep them alive but the animals are weakening

Bear tamer Vera Blishch is interviewed by a Russian TV Channel crew during a boat tour around a flooded area of Zelyony Ostrov Park Zoo

A volunteer helps to rescue animals in Zelyony Ostrov Park Zoo - one bear at the zoo has already drowned after a river burst its banks