A cook at a Russian military base construction site in the Arctic has been accused of feeding a polar bear with explosives causing it to writhe in agony.

A shocking video of the anguished animal, with blood pouring from its snout, was revealed today.

The female bear was being fed by the male cook, so regularly appeared at the site on remote Wrangel Island, where Vladimir Putin is establishing a military presence.

The bear had a cub, which she often brought with her to be fed, although not on this occasion and the young bear is now believed to be orphaned.

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A polar bear writhes in agony after apparently being fed explosives by a cook on a Russian military base

The endangered animal was seen with blood pouring from her nose after a 'thunder flash' went off inside her

It is not clear what happened to the mother, but experts said there was very little chance she would have survived.

'The animal was previously fed by people but this time it ate an explosive which was allegedly given to him by the local cook,' said the LifeNews report.

'The bear began to spin around and rubbed against the snow, his snout bleeding.'

In the video, the animal is clearly seen in agony from the explosion.

The cook had fed the bear previously but this time put an explosive with the food.

'The female bear thought that it was something tasty and ate it,' the report said.

Polar bears are protected in Russia and the cook faces a potential jail sentence for the cruel act

One report said the bear was shot to be put out of her agony, but this was not confirmed.

The video was made by workers of a company called RusAliance, which is building the new military base.

Polar bears are protected in Russia and the cook faces a potential jail sentence for the act.

Workers at the remote station have a dispensation which allows them to shoot polar bears that threaten them.

But reports stress that on this occasion the workers, including the cook, had coaxed the bear to come in order to be fed.

The female bear was being fed by the male cook, so regularly appeared at the site on remote Wrangel Island

A report by NTV television stated: 'Witnesses say that this polar bear often came to the settlement searching for food.

'The female bear looked into the rubbish bins and sometimes the people fed her.

'She got used to the people and even brought her little cub with her.

'The author of the video says that one day the cook hid a thunder flash inside something tasty and fed it to the bear just for fun.

'The injured animal was spinning around from pain for about half and hour.

'It is not clear what happened to the animal later. Zoologists are sure that the bear had very little chance to survive.

'They plan to appeal to police and ask to punish the cruel man.

'He can face a jail term for killing a rare animal which is listed in the Russian Red book of rare species.'