Brown bears at the Kronotsky Nature Reserve in far east Russia are allegedly addicted to aviation fuel, UK's Daily Mail has reported.

Photographer Igor Shpilenok spent seven months with the community of bears who play with discarded barrels, sniffing gasoline and kerosene and get high off of the fumes. They then dig a shallow hole and lie there in a 'nirvana' position.

The fuel is used to power generators and helicopters used by nature reserve workers. Some of the bears have become so addicted that they stalk helicopters and wait for fuel to leak on the soil as they land and take off.

"In another case a helicopter brought a few barrels of gasoline," Shpilenok reportedly said. "Workers of the nature reserve didn't take them in time and a female bear named Suzemka - who is apparently fasciated by the smell of fuel - used the opportunity. She seems to be one of the addicts."

The Kronotsky Nature Reserve, in South Kamchatka, is home to more than 700 brown bears who can weigh up to 1,200 pounds. The sanctuary covers 225,000 hectares of land and is listed as a Unesco World Heritage site. The climate ranges between extremely hot and cold - earning it the label 'land of fire and ice'.

You can check out images of the bears here.