MOSCOW: A flood has swept through a private zoo in Russia’s Far East, trapping 14 brown bears and a lion in their half-submerged cages. Video broadcast on Russian state television showed the bears standing on their hind legs and clinging to the bars with their front paws to keep their heads above the muddy water.

Vera Blishch, identified in the TV report as a bear trainer, checked on their condition from a boat on Monday and said they were suffering from cold and lack of sleep. One other bear at the Green Island zoo in Ussuriysk drowned after a river burst its banks on Sunday.