DHL delivers four Ussuri brown bears to Yorkshire Wildlife Park

DHL Global Forwarding has safely shipped four Ussuri brown bears from Japan to Yorkshire Wildlife Park in the UK.

Riku, Kai, Hanako and Amu were transported 9,000km from Hokkaido, via Haneda Airport in Tokyo. They arrived in Heathrow, London, before travelling by road the rest of the way.

“We at DHL Global Forwarding are proud to have the chance to support the important work of institutions like Yorkshire Wildlife Park with our wide range of competencies, from rapid multimodal freight to customs clearance of sensitive cargo,” said Paul Chinery, vice president of Airfreight UK at DHL Global Forwarding. “Thanks to our extensive expertise of planning and executing challenging transports we could ensure a smooth transition of the four bears to their new sanctuary.”

Credit: Janko Ferlic

Ussuri bears weigh up to 550kg. The climate in their transport had to be chilled to around 10 degrees Celsius, with a vet and an animal handler in attendance.

There are estimated to be around 10,000 Ussuri brown bears left in Japan. They are on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, vulnerable due to loss of habitat, illegal hunting and poaching.

Yorkshire Wildlife Park specialises in endangered species and the bears will be the first residents of a new specialist reserve for short to mid-term housing of carnivores, before moving to a permanent home at the Park.

(Source: Air Cargo News)