Written by Alex Davies

The only thing that could be more upsetting than images of an adult polar bear eating his cub is the fact that it’s a scene that’s occurring with increasing frequency throughout the Arctic. As the melting of Arctic Sea ice worsens every year, polar bear hunting grounds disappear, and so does their access to food.

Michael reported a story just like this one in 2008, and it appears that the cannibalism trend is rising. A report by environmental photojournalist Jenny Ross, who took the disturbing photos, and polar bear biologist Dr Ian Stirling notes three such sightings, and warns that as global warming continues, “the frequency of such intraspecific predation may increase.”

This post was originally published by Treehugger.