Hundreds of thousands of people have expressed their heartbreak and sorrow over a video (above) of a gaunt polar bear in extreme starvation. Filmed by National Geographic photographers Paul Nicklen and Cristina Mittermeier on Baffin Island in Canada’s Arctic in late August, the video serves a dangerous reminder: climate change is very real.

On an almost iceless island, the starving being is struggling to walk as it looks for food. The sight of the polar bear rummaging through a dustbin used by Inuit fishermen is perhaps the most agonising to watch. As the ice melts because of rising temperatures, polar bears are losing access to their staple food.

Sharing the video on Instagram, Nicklen describes it as “a soul-crushing scene that still haunts me”, adding, “We need to share both the beautiful and the heartbreaking if we are going to break down the walls of apathy. This is what starvation looks like.”