A Scottish zoo will be adopting a 12-year-old Asiatic black bear named Yampil, who was left in horrendous conditions in Russian-occupied Ukraine.
Ukrainian soldiers discovered him in October 2022, barely alive, following a shell explosion near his cage, CNN reported. Yampil’s journey to safety took him from Ukraine to Poland to Belgium. Now he is scheduled to be relocated to Five Sisters Zoo 20 miles west of Edinburgh, Scotland, in early 2024.
“I was quite emotional about it and it’s kind of unimaginable some of the stuff that he’s gone through,” the zoo’s head carnivore keeper, Gary Curran, told CNN. “And so we were really keen to do our best to make sure that we create a home for the rest of his life and no matter the cost.”
Help us give Yampil a home at Five Sisters Zoo!
To support Yampil’s rescue, please follow the link below ⬇️https://t.co/Qb7OE6R9eV#FiveSistersZoo #FSZ #YampilTheBear pic.twitter.com/RyMOXj2nnB
— Five Sisters Zoo (@fivesisterszoo) September 11, 2023
The conflict in Ukraine has left many pets abandoned and zoos struggling to care for their residents, CNN reported. Dr. Romain Pizzi, head veterinarian at Five Sisters Zoo, stressed the shared trauma animals and people experience during conflicts and emphasized the need for specialized care.
Five Sisters Zoo plans to invest approximately £200,000 ($214,510) in Yampil’s new enclosure and is seeking donations.
“Help us give Yampil a home at Five Sisters Zoo!” the zoo wrote on social media. (RELATED: Video Shows Woman Helping Bear Cub With Head Stuck In Plastic Jug)
“We want to make sure that what we build for him as a sanctuary enclosure in … Scotland is going to meet his needs and they’ll be specific to him, depending on what trauma he’s gone through and what maladaptive behaviors he may have developed in that time,” Pizzi told CNN.
The staff at Five Sisters Zoo is optimistic they can offer Yampil a fulfilling life in Scotland, where he can heal and thrive as “a happy, normal bear.”