Moon the sun bear was a victim of liver cancer. She died Dec. 12. Tucson schoolchildren and bear lovers will miss this "very, very smart" bear.

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Moon, a sun bear who spent the final five years of her life entertaining children from her home at Reid Park Zoo in Tucson, died after a courageous battle against liver cancer. She was 18.

In addition to her career as entertainer, Moon, born in Miami, was also an educator and was intimately involved in a breeding program designed to offset the declining population of her species.

She produced and raised two offspring before coming to Tucson in 2001, where she continued her task of educating the public about international efforts to halt the poaching of her species by unscrupulous gall-bladder gatherers.

Known for her live-and-let-live attitude, Moon charmed zoo visitors by simply ignoring them and going about her business no matter how many gathered to gawk.

Before her recent illness prevented her from climbing, she loved sunning herself in the highest branches of her habitat, said zookeeper Cassandra Rogge-Wallace, and also enjoyed her hammock and her cave.

While not particularly social, Moon did boast "a pretty good array of training behaviors," said Rogge-Wallace.

She would sit still on command, present her feet for inspection, even open her mouth and present her tongue, Rogge-Wallace said. "She was very smart," Rogge-Wallace said, "but she could be stubborn, too. She had certain areas she preferred and she would refuse to move from them for cleaning."

Zookeepers had to keep upping the ante on sweet treats. "I think she was training us," said Rogge-Wallace.

Moon's most interesting physical attribute was the marking on her chest, said Rogge-Wallace — where most sun bears sport a crescent, Moon had a tan circle. A full moon, if you will.

Moon had grown quite ill over the past few months but zookeepers didn't discover the full extent of her illness until they euthanized her Dec. 12. A post-mortem confirmed advanced liver cancer, according to a zoo news release.

The impact is just setting in for her keepers. "It was a hard week last week. I really missed her," said Rogge-Wallace, "just working a week with her not in the picture anymore."

"She will be missed," said Scott Barton, the zoo's general curator.

In addition to the zoo staff, her two children and an unknown number of grandchildren, Moon is survived by habitat-mate Dresena, another sun bear, who, quite frankly, didn't really like Moon and should get along just fine without her.

The two mostly ignored each other, but would occasionally get into barking battles, rising up on their hind paws, roaring and growling, said Rogge-Wallace.

In lieu of flowers, Moon's caretakers suggest donations to the Tucson Zoological Society, online at www.tucsonzoo.org

No services are planned.