A pack of 26 hungry polar bears are terrorising a tiny Siberian town as they hunt for food. Some are blaming global warming which has shrunk the Arctic ice and prevented bears from catching ringed seals – their normal fare.

Emaciated bears have even been discovered drowned by Inuit hunters, who reckon they died swimming to the nearest ice to get at the seals.

Scientists now believe the polar bear could become extinct and estimate that the Arctic could be completely thawed out by 2080.