Video of a bear cub being stoned to death by a group of men in northern Iran has sparked outrage after being posted online.

Distressing footage shows two men hurling rocks at the dazed and injured animal in Savadkuh County, in the country's north, earlier this week.

A woman can be heard shouting at the men to stop their attack, but they ignore her cries and continue pelting the animal with large pieces of rock.

A young brown bear was filmed being stoned to death by at least two men after it wandered close to a village in northern Iran earlier this week

Two men were recorded pelting the dazed and injured animal with chunks of rock despite a woman yelling at them to stop

Further video reveals that at one point, a larger group managed to tie a piece of rope around the exhausted and bleeding animal's neck.

It was then tied up in the back of one truck where it was recorded panting heavily through its mouth.

One social media user, who posted footage of the attack on Instagram, claimed the bear's nose was completely closed and its mouth was full of blood.

The man, who goes by the handle Soheiloladzad, also claims the bear was unable to see out of one eye, which was full of blood.

A third video then shows the bear - which is either unconscious or dead - being dragged from the first truck into the back of a second.

Iran Front Page, a state-sanctioned news site, says that at some point forest wardens were called and attempted to take the bear for treatment - but it died before veterinarians could tend to it.

One man has been arrested over the attack, according to the site, while a second - his employee - is being sought.

After being wounded, the clearly exhausted animal is tied up with a piece of rope by a group of men who then load the bear into a truck

Iranian media say that at some point forest wardens were called and tried to take the animal to hospital, but it died along the way (pictured, the bear unconscious in the back of a truck)

Mazandaran Hossein Ali Ebrahimi, head of the environment department in the region, has called for the men to face both prison sentences and heavy fines.

The culprits have not only caused environmental harm, but also hurt the feelings of the public, Ebrahimi said.

Eurasian brown bears are common in the forested areas of northern Iran, where fear of attacks by villagers is common, according to The Observers for France 24.

'People often talk about bears when they've attacked someone or destroyed a farmer’s beehives or killed his chickens,' a local source said.

'I think that fear of bears is in our DNA. That’s why these villagers acted in such an unreasonable way.'