Berlin Zoo To “Activists”: Get Bent
The Berlin Zoo will not execute Knut the Kute, the baby polar bear. "Animal Activists" had demanded the bear be killed immediately because he was being hand fed by humans. That, they informed the world, meant that Knut would never be a "proper polar bear". Now, never mind the fact that Knut was born in the zoo and would never have been released to the wild to practice proper polar bear-ery. The "activists" wanted Knut's hide - presumably to decorate their official headquarters. But the zoo is flat out promising that Knut will live and his pelt will stay firmly where nature placed it.
BERLIN (AFP) - Knut, a polar bear cub who has become a global sensation after cheating death, made his first public appearance at the Berlin Zoo Friday under the gaze of dozens of photographers and cameramen.
Knut seemed to lap up the attention, toddling around his enclosure, occasionally nibbling the boots of his handler Thomas Doerflein and poking his nose into a pond.
Even German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel got in on the act, appearing with the little bear after adopting him through the zoo's sponsorship scheme.
The nine-kilogramme (19-pound) bear has triggered a wave of media coverage in recent days after an animal activist said he should have been put down after he and his brother were rejected by their mother following their birth in December.
Now, it just gets better. Annie Leibovitz has swooped in and taken Knut's picture for an environmental campaign. Presumably, Knut did not have to leak any information to the press to get this honor, as James Baker did. Unless Knut did what bears do and took a leak on someone from the press, anyway.
Animals, World news | Gaius Friday, 23 March , 2007
By Rightmom, Friday, 23 March , 2007 @ 7:52 am
My son reminded me of a show we watch where a mother rhino attempted to stomp her newborn to death, the zoo stepped in to save the little guy however within 11 months he was dead he had been born with half a brain and of course his mother knew that, sometimes humans in the act of kindness are keeping alive animals that will suffer later. I hope that is not the case with this little baby and nor do I believe that we should kill it because it was bottle fed, I just hope that the mother did not know something we don’t know when she chose to abandon it.