The story of Voytek the bear in the Iranian mountains, where his mother was killed by hunters when he was only eight weeks old, is very interesting. A young Iranian boy saved the young cub, putting him into his backpack. When a group of Polish soldiers drove up, the boy gave them the cub in exchange for some beef, a chocolate bar, and a few coins. The cub was near death, and the soldiers didn't think he would survive the night but they slowly nursed him back to health, feeding him out of a bottle filled with milk. During the months that followed, the cub grew larger and stronger. He learned to march in formation   with the soldiers. One of his favorite hobbies was wrestling with his Polish friends --- occasionally, he even let them win. "He was just like a dog --- nobody was scared of him," a soldier, Augustyn Karolewski, told The Scotsman. Though Voytek loved to play, the Polish troops soon realized they could put him to work, too. Who could be better at loading heavy ammunition   into their trucks than a bear? During the Battle of Monte Cassino, Voytek helped out his fellow men by loading shells into truck beds for hours and hours without stopping, paving the way for a victory. After the war ended, Voytek lived the rest of his life at the Edinburgh Zoo, where he was very famous. He died in 1963, and ever since, his remarkable story has gradually been forgotten. But that may be about to change --- a Scottish woman, Alieen Orr, is campaigning for a monument to this military hero. Orr first heard the legend of Voytek from her grandfather. "I thought he had made it up, to be quite honest," she told The Scotsman. "The story is totally amazing and it would be good if we could have a memorial in Scotland to celebrate the bear's life." How did Orr think of the story of Voytek when she first heard it?
She thought it was moving. She thought it was funny. She thought it was unbelievable. She thought it was meaningful.