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Bears in Ukrainian Carpathians can’t hibernate due to unusually warm weather — biologists

Only three brown bears out of 32 managed to enter hibernation, according to the staff of the nature park in western Ukraine

KIEV, December 24. /TASS/. Brown bears in the Ukrainian Carpathian Mountains are struggling to enter hibernation due to unexpectedly and unusually warm winter, staff of the Synevir National Nature Park located in western Ukraine said via Facebook on Tuesday.

Biologists of the national park’s rehabilitation center revealed that only three brown bears managed to enter hibernation out of 32 bears kept there. "The bear insomnia is caused by insufficiently cold temperatures," they wrote. "True winter only lasted a week in the region in early December. Three bears — Benya, Dyury and Potapych — managed to enter hibernation in this time. The rest are waiting for a freeze-up."

The rehabilitation center at the Synevir National Nature Park was opened in 2011. It welcomes bears from private circuses, zoos and nurseries where they were mistreated.

This winter, Ukraine is experiencing unusually warm temperatures. For instance, Kiev saw thermometers pushed up to 15 degrees on December 18 — a record high in 139 years of observations in the city.