Nature can be cruel (well, arguably not as cruel as members of the Royal family!), and once again that was on show in Sir David Attenborough’s latest stunning documentary Frozen Planet II (set to air on Nine next year).
A brand new episode – that just ran in the UK – has left British viewers “heart broken” and “in tears” after it showed a mother seal abandoning her pup after just 12 days.
The episode, filmed in the North Pole, follows a mum and her young male seal pup who, at that age, is one big black-eyed ball of adorable white fluff.
Attenborough revealed that the pup suckles on the mother for the first week or more of its life, but that reduces mum’s weight by a third, forcing her to abandon the infant and return to her feeding grounds.
As mum and pup take one final glance at one another, Attenborough declares: “She will never see her pup again!”
Grab the tissues for the video below:
Naturally, social media soon lit-up at the icy horror that was unfolding.
One person tweeted: “No human has ever hurt me as bad as that seal and pup did.”
“Anyone else bawling at the harp seal?” asked another.
“The baby seal and its mother have just broken my heart,” said another woman.
Check out some more reactions below:
