BBC News - Polar bear 'cannibalism' pictured

"This type of intraspecific predation has always occurred to some extent," she told BBC News.

"However, there are increasing numbers of observations of it occurring, particularly on land where polar bears are trapped ashore, completely food-deprived for extended periods of time due to the loss of sea ice as a result of climate change."

2009: Is global warming causing hungry polar bears to resort to cannibalism? | Mail Online

But this theory is disputed by Inuit leaders in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, who claim it is wrong to connect the bears' behaviour with starvation.

Kivalliqu Inuit Association president Jose Kusugak said: ‘It makes the south – southern people – look so ignorant.

Dispute: Local Inuit leaders say it is wrong to connect the bears' behaviour with starvation, claiming incidences of cannibalism are normal occurrences

‘A male polar bear eating a cub becomes a big story and they try to marry it with climate change and so on, it becomes absurd when it’s a normal, normal occurrence.’

2009: Climate change not to blame for polar bear cannibalism

Mr. Pinksen, however, called the incidents an “act of nature,” and said the public reaction has been taken out of proportion.

“Maybe if you’re sitting in an armchair in the city somewhere these pictures would be a shock, but people up here see these things all the time,” he said, adding residents that are out hunting animals for food, clothing and income have seen evidence of these attacks in the past.

Hat tip: M. Hulme