A disturbing video has emerged from northern India showing a villager using a long stick to hit a mother bear which had earlier become trapped when she fell into a water tank with her two cubs.

In the clip, which was filmed in a village near Rampur on Friday, a mother bear and her two cubs are stuck in a water tank, unable to climb the steep concrete walls.

A villager repeatedly takes aim at the mother with a long stick, provoking her to charge around the tank barking.

Fortunately, officials from the forest department arrived later that day and hauled the bears to safety.

A mother bear fell into a water tank with her two cubs on January 4.

Residents of a village near Rampur in North India spotted them and informed the forest department immediately.

Officials rushed to the spot and pulled out the mother and cubs in the night.