These brown bears are keen to play with discarded barrels - because they have developed a nose for aviation fuel.
The creatures sniff kerosene and gasoline from containers left in the Kronotsky Nature Reserve in the far east of Russia.
They take deep breaths for minutes at a time before digging a shallow hole and lying in a 'nirvana' position.
When bears aren’t busy taking dumps in the woods with the pope [citation needed] and being totally rad, they’re looking for new ways to get high as hell. At the Kronotsky Nature Reserve in Russia, some of the largest brown bears in the world are coming out of hibernation and getting their swerve on.
These brown bears seek barrels which used to hold a mix of kerosene and gasoline used for powering the helicopters and generators in this very remote region in Far East Russia. They’re searching for remaining drops of the fuel in barrels or on the ground, precious drops which they’ll huff until they’re well snookered. Some of them will then dig a small hole to lay in (see above). I know that feel, bro.
We have more photos of the bears below. These pictures were taken by Igor Shpilenok during his grueling, seven-month-long photography project of which we’re only paying attention to the four pictures of bears getting high. Priorities.
The fuel is used to power generators and helicopters used by nature reserve workers.
Photographer Igor Shpilenok, 52, spent seven months with the community of bears.
He said some of the addicted predators even stalked helicopters, waiting for take off and drops of fuel to leak onto the hard soil for them to hoover up.
He added: 'In another case a helicopter brought a few barrels of gasoline.
'Workers of the nature reserve didn't take them in time and a female bear named Suzemka - who is apparently fasciated by the smell of fuel - used the opportunity.
'She seems to be one of the addicts.'
The Kronotsky Nature Reserve, in South Kamchatka, is home to more than 700 brown bears.
They are thought to be the largest brown bears in the world, weighing up to 1,200lb.
The sanctuary covers 225,000 hectares of land and is listed as a Unesco World Heritage site.
The climate ranges between extremely hot and cold - earning it the label 'land of fire and ice'
Bear-ly conscious! Russian creatures pass out after developing aviation fuel addiction from sniffing discarded gas barrels | Mail Online
