This is the heart-touching moment a bison appears to more a herdmate’s death after it was run down by a military vehicle in Poland.

Video footage of the heartbroken beast shows it standing quietly beside a tractor with its companion’s body stretched out on a trailer.

The huge bull keeps nuzzling the body as if trying to say goodbye to it one last time.

The footage, filmed in Stare Masiewo on 12th November, was later shared online and picked up in local media.

Photos taken earlier show the bison standing over the body in the road.

It is not known whether the body was the bison’s mate or a male from the same herd.

The police, according to local media, had to drive him away so they could remove the body and make the road safe, said local mayor Dawid Wierzbicki.

Professor Rafal Kowalczyk, from the Institute of Mammal Biology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Białowieza, told local media: “The bison is a herd animal, and the bulls – especially in winter – stay together, for example in feeding places.

“There is definitely a bond between animals. The behaviour that was observed in Stare Masiewo may indicate a sense of loss.”

Kowalczyk added: “I also saw such behaviour while shooting bison.

“Members of the herd approached the dead animal and touched it with their muzzles. Some even tried to lift it with their horns.

“Until recently, such behaviours were attributed only to human beings.

“Currently, they are also observed in elephants, chimpanzees and dolphins.”

Mayor Wierzbicki said: “Soldiers can use the gravel road leading to the border. However, unlike the Border Guard, they drive around our village on an asphalt road.”

Military traffic has increased massively around the remote village and its border with Belarus since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

NATO member Poland is on alert for any movements from Belarus, a staunch ally of Moscow and Russian President Vladimir Putin.