TRAGIC footage has captured the "world's saddest bear" looking emaciated after living on just bread and vegetables for over a decade.
Visitors were left horrified after seeing the plight of the black bear at Jiulongtan Scenic Area Zoo in Panzhou, China.
A video shot by one such visitor shows the starving bear with skinny legs, barely able to move.
The animal could not be recognised as the giant beast one would expect him to be.
It said that the bear had been fed vegetables and steamed cornbread since it was a cub and had grown accustomed to the diet.
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Now, being over 10 years old, it has grown old and is eating much less due to its age.
The visitor claimed they spoke to the zookeeper and was told that the lack of tourists left the owner barely able to feed the animals.
Writing on social media, they described: "The world's most miserable black bear!
"It's so thin that it looks deformed. The zookeeper said the owner has run out of money, and there are no more visitors, so they switched from feeding feed to feeding carrots and vegetables every day."
Fellow social media users were quick to criticise the zoo's management, with some of them flocking to the comments section to share their thoughts.
One such person said: "The animals in Panzhou Zoo are really abused. They don't eat well, and the environment is terrible. I don't want to go there after I went there once."
Another wrote: "The bear is as hungry as a dog."
A third shared: "Return the animals to nature."
The Panzhou Tourism Industrialisation Development Centre was quick to respond to the claims and inspected the zoo.
They have promised to continue monitoring the bear in collaboration with other departments.
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The bureau claimed that another black bear living at the zoo is in normal and healthy condition, although it is understood it was a recent arrival.
In 2021, a similar case was reported in Armenia where another bear was found to have spent his entire life behind bars in a small, filthy cage.
Nelson the brown bear lived like this in the Armenian zoo since he was a cub.
Locals back then claimed his captors neglected his needs entirely for days, before finally offering just enough nutrition to survive.
Nelson was also said to have developed arthritis and lost his sight two years ago.
Another abused bear was kept locked up in a tiny cage and forced to vomit so it could be used for a bizarre medicine.
The Asiatic black bear, named Soi, tried to escape the horrific conditions by gnawing at the bars of his enclosure.
He spent the first years of his life cooped up in the minuscule makeshift pen that is smaller than a car, leaving him visibly miserable.
Soi's former owner who lives in the Son La province of Vietnam is believed to have sickeningly purchased him illegally to keep as a pet.
According to animal welfare group Four Paws, he weighed just 7kg when he was a young cub.
He eventually agreed to hand him over to authorities after the bear's harrowing living conditions came to light.
It comes after a group of savage bears who are feared to have acquired a taste for human flesh were found rampaging in a town in Japan.
Residents of the peaceful island of Hokkaido have been grappling with fears over the "ninja bears" who have been attacking humans and devouring cattle.
Last month, a giant black bear broke into a cattle shed and devoured all the cows inside.
Just three days later, another horror attack was witnessed in the rural area of Gunma province where an old couple were seriously injured after a huge wild bear stormed their house in the middle of the night.
However, locals were left shivering when a bear killed a 64-year-old man in Akita province while he was working on a farm.
Although Bears largely consume a vegetarian diet, experts have begun to fear that these savage beasts have now acquired a taste for flesh after preying on wild deer who are growing in numbers due to the lack of hunting practices in Japan.
