In the photo, shared to the Nature Site Facebook page, the paw appeared about double the width of the woman’s head.

The caption for the post read: “This bear is alive, it was a tag and release under sedation, but (the photo is) just to give you perspective of a grizzly bear’s paw”.

The animal’s paw appeared somewhat aged, with worn black padding stretching across its five toes and the flat area.

Five long claws also shot out of the paw like giant daggers, the longest appearing at least 20 centimetres in length.

The species is most commonly found in western Canada and Alaska, where its population is believed to be about 30,000 individuals.

In other parts of the United States however, there are fewer than 1000 grizzly bears left, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature.