A brown bear who ate cigarettes and carried artillery shells into battle ended up spending his final days at the Edinburgh Zoo. His name was Wojtek, the Syrian brown bear who served with the Polish Army in WW2. In 1942, while traveling through Iran, Polish soldiers adopted a Syrian brown bear cub and named him Wojtek, a diminutive of Wojciech, often interpreted as “joyful warrior.” From 1942–43 he accompanied the 22nd Artillery Supply Company, Polish II Corps, through the Middle East. By 1944 he was with the Poles in Italy, reportedly having been formally enrolled in the army. In May 1944 Wojtek accompanied his men to the Battle of Monte Cassino (terrible fighting around the ruins of a medieval abbey that America unwisely knocked down). There Wojtek reportedly hauled artillery ammunition, drank beer and ate cigarettes, sometimes even lit (why humans, why?) and his likeness ended up being used as the unit patch, which showed him carrying an artillery shell. After Italy he accompanied his unit to Winfield Camp near Hutton in Berwickshire, Scotland and by 1947 was in his new home at the Edinburgh Zoo. Wojtek passed away on 2 December 1963. He had been visited by former comrades at the zoo. So there’s Wotjek. He has more details if you wish to snoop.