The winter has been warmer than usual but colder days are on the horizon. It’s not clear if the bear will go into hibernation. It’s known for the distinctive white crescent patch on its chest that gives it the nickname moon bear. 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. He feasted on cukes - said to be his favorite food - and melon, said Adam Welsh, who works at Five Sisters. Yampil arrived at the zoo about 15 miles (25 kilometers) west of Edinburgh and immediately made himself at home. “You could feel it was a heavy animal in the back of the car.” “Every time when we had a red light or a traffic jam, when the bear moved a little bit, you could feel the van moving also,” he said. Thoelen had a sense of the bear’s weight as he drove the crate to the port. “We want to use the food that he likes most, and for most bears - and for people also - it’s sweet, unhealthy foods,” Thoelen said. Pastries from a local bakery were used for good measure to lure him Thursday into the cage, where he was sedated for the journey. The bear was trained in the past two weeks to move from his enclosure to the crate that would transport him across Belgium to Calais, France, then across the English Channel on a ferry to Scotland. It was remarkable how calm Yampil was when he arrived in Belgium, Thoelen said. The nature center in Belgium, which usually treats injured wildlife and returns them to their natural settings, has taken several animals rescued from the war in Ukraine, including a wolf, a caracal cat and four lions, though those animals had not experienced the ordeal Yampil endured. He now is estimated to weigh a healthy 440 pounds (200 kilograms), Thoelen said. The bear was skinny but not malnourished when he was found, said Frederik Thoelen, a biologist at the Nature Help Center in Belgium.
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