An unlikely refugee from the war in Ukraine — a rare 12-year-old Asiatic black bear reached his new permanent home in Scotland on Friday after being found in a menagerie in Ukraine that had long been abandoned by its owners.
Named Yampil for a village in the Donetsk region where he was one of the few survivors, he was found by Ukrainian troops in the remains of a bombed-out private zoo.
Almost all the other animals had died of hunger, thirst or were struck by bullets or shrapnel and some were eaten by Russian troops, according to the AP news agency.
Yampil narrowly missed the same fate, suffering a concussion from a projectile that landed nearby.
What followed was an odyssey involving multiple transfers, first to Kyiv for veterinary care and rehab and then to a zoo in Poznań, western Poland, followed by a move to an animal rescue in Belgium, where he spent the past seven months, before landing in the United Kingdom.
The Poznań Zoo has been actively engaged in assisting animals since the onset of the conflict in Ukraine, according to the epoznan.pl website.
Apart from Yampil, evacuations to Poland have also included lions, tigers, and caracals, the website said.
More details about Yampil's journey have been shared by the Poznań Zoo staff on their social media.
The Asiatic black bear is listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species as vulnerable to extinction in the wild, where it can be found in central and southern Asia, Russia and Japan.
It’s known for the distinctive white crescent patch on its chest that gives it the nickname moon bear.
It can live for up to 30 years in zoos.
(mo)
Source: epoznan.pl, AP, Reuters