Berlin Zoo says no to putting away baby polar bear
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Officials at the Berlin Zoo have emphatically denied suggestions from various animal right groups and politicians that they kill the now famous polar bear, Knut.
Animal right groups are putting pressure on Berlin Zoo to kill the polar bear since hand-rearing it would be against its rights. In the Bild newspaper, Frank Albrecht, noted animal rights campaigner, has been quoted as saying, "Hand-rearing a polar bear is not appropriate and is a serious violation of animal rights. In fact, the cub should have been killed."
Knut's mother, a performing polar bear in an East German zoo, had abandoned Knut and his twin brother to freezing temperatures. Though Knut's twin died, Berlin Zoo decided to intervene and take care of the bear. Knut has been "adopted" by zookeeper Thomas Doerflein, who bottle-feeds him and strings up Elvis Presley songs.
Stating that Knut will never grow up to be a proper polar bear if he stays with his zookeeper the director of Aachen zoo, Wolfram Ludwig said, "It is not correct to bottle-feed a small polar bear. He will always be fixated on his keeper and will never grow to be a proper polar bear. One should have had the courage to kill him much earlier."
This will not be the first time that a "rejected" baby animal has been put to death. Last December, zoo officials at Leipzig zoo injected a baby sloth with T61, a poison that kills in two seconds, when his mother refused to care him. However Andre Schuele, the vet at Berlin Zoo, said that each case should be seen separately.
"Knut was a healthy baby bear when we found him and so there was no reason for us to put him down. And there's certainly no reason to do so now", Schuele said. He added that in order to make the animal independent on its keeper, the bear is being left alone for at least 2 hours a day and is being weaned off the bottle.
Meanwhile Knut is all set to make his first public appearance by the end of this week when he will appear on a documentary series shown by German broadcaster ARD.
Copyright,
respective author or news agency
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knut
By:
Alan Young ,
Tue, 10 Apr 2007 05:31:30 GMT
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People suggesting putting knut to sleep are not thinking clearly, or more to the point, they are morons!
He's a gorgeous, adorable creature. Perhaps he's a 'spokesbear' for
all polar bears whose habitat is quite endangered now. Perhaps one reason for his life is to inform all of us of their plight and to energize people to take action. Go, Knut, Go! I know you're in good hands with Thomas Doerflein at the zoo and I, amongst probably several million people, would take care for you if you need. Who knows, maybe he'll learn to play guitar and sing!
AlanYoung/Calif.
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Knut the Polar Bear
By:
Shane Merrill ,
Tue, 10 Apr 2007 00:41:58 GMT
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The psycho animal rights groups that believe this beautiful creature should be put to sleep are seriously misguided. Just because he will grow up in a different way from polar bears in the wild is no reason to deprive him of his life. Besides, aren't polar bears an endangered species? Some people can't see past their own noses.
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knut
By:
Sonia ,
Tue, 10 Apr 2007 00:15:04 GMT
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those are the most stupidest people i have ever come across...
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KNUT
By:
D Morrell ,
Fri, 30 Mar 2007 18:39:54 GMT
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KNUT, has a right to life.
Ignorance is not pretty.
If everyone and every being was or is not raised by a parent and are put to death because someone feels it is not the natural order of things, there would and will be a lot of Gods creations being destroyed. For what?? For someones stupidity.
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conserve the bear!
By:
IVAN MENYA ,
Sun, 25 Mar 2007 08:33:16 GMT
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It"s life , in the first plase they would have realised all those lame excuses that are croppimg-up , like it will never growup to be a proper polar bear , hand -rearing it will be against its right . What is important is that the poor animal"s life was saved . On the other hand i stand to be corrected an animal can never be addressed as he/she , it is without reasoning capacity .
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All of God's Creatures Big and Small...
By:
Annmarie Ryan ,
Sun, 25 Mar 2007 03:57:34 GMT
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No animal should be killed, especially in a Zoo, where the responiablilty of Zoo Keepers is to do all they can to take care of Animals.... We "HUMANS", are not the only creatures who deserve to live on this planet that was created for All of God's creatures... Humans need to interviene to save Animals Big and Small. Not all Birth Mom's want to be moms, we see that so much in the HUMAN race, we do not kill those babies, nor the mothers...
Give the Animals a chance... God Bless little KNUt and Bless Andre Schuele, for doing such a wonderful job or raising this cub.... and sticking by KNUT!!!!
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Knut, the polar bear cub
By:
Patsy Shinn ,
Sat, 24 Mar 2007 20:41:40 GMT
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The bear should be killed because raising it by humans is a "serious animal rights violation"? What a stupid statement! Killing Knut isn't a "serious animal rights violation"? I can't believe a true animal rights person would think this, much less actually say it!
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Baby Polar Bears Can Be Saved
By:
Marco ,
Thu, 22 Mar 2007 13:49:47 GMT
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Does anyone remember Klondike and Snow, two polars rescued and reared by vets as well as Sea World Florida. They live there now, and are quite content with their new life.
The facts coming out of Berlin are baseless and lacking forethought.
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Knut the baby Polar Bear
By:
Dannie ,
Thu, 22 Mar 2007 13:27:09 GMT
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How could anyone look at that beautiful creature and suggest that he would have been better off left to die??? How sad .....
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Knut the Polar Bear Cub
By:
P.J. Veber ,
Thu, 22 Mar 2007 05:56:12 GMT
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All creatures including animals and humans are created with a natural drive to survive, by any and all means available.
This situation with little "Knut" might be called survival by alternative means -- which is perfectly natural.
Surviving and thriving includes being raised by another Mom of the same or different species if necessary.
In the not-too-distant past a mother lion adopted a baby gazelle, nursed and groomed it lovingly and then had to protect it from other lions who wanted to kill it.
Mother dogs frequently adopt baby kittens and other species babies, like foxes, squirrels and raccoons, as do mother cats adopt puppies, rabbits, squirrels etc.
And there have actually been recorded cases of feral human children who were abandoned or lost and either survived on their own or were assisted by animals.
In fact Romulus and Remus were supposedly abandoned on a cliff to die and a she-wolf adopted and nursed them.
And humans are a protective, nurturing species to a pretty wide degree.
This human alternative Mom is raising the cub and there is no excuse for killing a thriving creature for some skewed devotion to a supposed "natural law" that is not, in fact, a true "law" of Nature.
I hope reason and decency prevail and little Knut is spared and lives a good bear's age.
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knut bear
By:
Lori L ,
Thu, 22 Mar 2007 04:24:15 GMT
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The people who believe this adorable bear should be put to sleep should be put to sleep themselves. We have no right to take away life, they should relook at the meaning of being an animal rights activist. Ultimately, they should be ashamed at their suggestion of ending this creatures life.
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