Disturbing footage has emerged showing a bear using a vuvuzela instrument while being driven through the streets of Moscow.
Videos circulating online showed the bear blowing the horn - made famous at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa - in the back of a jeep.
Sitting next to its handler, the creature is seen performing poses as stunned onlookers take pictures on their phones.
It even performs a gesture resembling a controversial 'quenelle' gesture, which is associated with anti-Semitism.
The footage is believed to have been filmed after Russia's 5-0 trashing of Saudi Arabia in the opening game of the World Cup on Thursday.
One user of Twitter said of the incident: "Breaks my heart. How people can stand and laugh is beyond me. The amount of abuse that bear has lived through makes me feel sick."
Another added said it was "awful treatment of a beautiful animal."
The creature is believed to be a circus bear named 'Tima' which was at the centre of controversy after it was used in a pre-match performance in the Russian third division earlier this year.
Elia Allen, the director of animal welfare charity Peta, said of that incident: "In addition to being inhumane and utterly out of touch, using a bear as a captive servant to deliver a football is downright dangerous."
