Funnyman Ricky Gervais broke down in tears on Friday after learning about the death of his sponsored rescue bear.

The Office star is a longtime supporter of Animals Asia and the Moon Bears, and regularly donated money to assist Stan, a bear who was rescued from a farm in Vietnam.

However, the beast passed away recently, and Gervais has been left devastated after hearing of the tragedy.

In a post on his Twitter.com page, he writes, "Woke up to the news that my beautiful rescue bear Stan has died. At least he experienced 2 years of freedom and love."

Gervais was bombarded with well wishes from fans, and he later added, "All your kind messages made my cry. Thank you RIP Stan the bear." (CL/WNTWT/ZN)