When staff from Five Sisters Zoo in West Lothian travelled to Belgium in September to visit a bear that they plan to rehome later this month, they were not sure what to expect.
Less than a year earlier, Yampil had been only a few days from death when he was found by Ukrainian troops in the ruins of an abandoned zoo in the town near Donetsk that gave him his name.
But following his traumatic ordeal, the asiatic black bear appeared to show no scars of the shelling that destroyed his habitat or the Russian occupation that killed almost all of the 200 other zoo animals.
The Five Sisters zookeepers were pleased to find a healthy bear chomping merrily on a cucumber when they arrived at his temporary home at the Natuurhulpcentrum rescue centre in eastern Belgium – a world away from the videos they had seen of Yampil, dirty and concussed after a shell landed near his enclosure, being carried through the rubble on a tarpaulin by soldiers.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
When staff from Five Sisters Zoo in West Lothian travelled to Belgium in September to visit a bear that they plan to rehome later this month, they were not sure what to expect.
But following his traumatic ordeal, the asiatic black bear appeared to show no scars of the shelling that destroyed his habitat or the Russian occupation that killed almost all of the 200 other zoo animals.
The Five Sisters zookeepers were pleased to find a healthy bear chomping merrily on a cucumber when they arrived at his temporary home at the Natuurhulpcentrum rescue centre in eastern Belgium – a world away from the videos they had seen of Yampil, dirty and concussed after a shell landed near his enclosure, being carried through the rubble on a tarpaulin by soldiers.
Garry Curran, the head of carnivores, said: “Bears can often suffer mental health problems after going through a traumatic experience, and so it was really important we understood Yampil and what to expect from him.
Currently at Poznań is Aysa, a lioness who recently gave birth to three cubs, Teddi, Emi and Santa, after being rescued from a private zoo near Donetsk.
Colin Northcott, the deputy head of carnivores, said Aysa was quite shaken and her cubs were wary when he visited them, but he expected them to come out of their shell in the 10-acre lion enclosure.
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