When Knut was born last December his mother ignored him, zoo officials intervened and chose to raise him themselves
Posted on 03/19/2007 12:08:29 PM PDT by Stoat
The Berlin Zoo's abandoned polar bear cub Knut looks cute, cuddly and has become a front-page media darling, but animal rights activists insisted he would be better off dead than raised by humans.
When Knut was born last December his mother ignored him, zoo officials intervened and chose to raise him themselves
"Feeding by hand is not species-appropriate but a gross violation of animal protection laws," animal rights activist Frank Albrecht told the mass-circulation Bild, which has featured regular full-color photo spreads tracking fuzzy Knut's frolicking. "The zoo must kill the bear."
When Knut - or "Cute Knut," as the 8.7 kilogram (19 pound) bear has become known - was born last December, his mother ignored him and his brother, who later died. Zoo officials intervened, choosing to raise the cub themselves.
Activists argue that it is inappropriate for a predator, known for its fierceness and ability to fend for itself in the wild, to be snuggled
But Albrecht and other activists fret that it is inappropriate for a predator, known for its fierceness and ability to fend for itself in the wild, to be snuggled, bottle-fed and made a poster child by zookeepers - and even star-photographer Annie Leibovitz.
The activists argue that current treatment of the cub is inhumane and could lead to future difficulties interacting with fellow polar bears.
"They cannot domesticate a wild animal," Ruediger Schmiedel, head of the Foundation for Bears, told Der Spiegel weekly in its Monday edition.
They cite a similar case of a baby sloth bear that was abandoned by its mother last December in the Leipzig city zoo and killed by lethal injection, rather than being kept alive by humans.
But he is the Berlin Zoo's bear and their veterinarian Andre Schuele, charged with caring for Knut, disagrees.
"These criticisms make me angry, but you can't take them so seriously," Andre Schuele said.
"Polar bears live alone in the wild; I see no logical reason why this bear should be killed."
Schuele also argued that given the increased rarity of polar bears in the wild, it makes sense to keep them alive in captivity so that they can be bred.
"Polar bears are under threat of extinction, and if we feed the bear with a bottle, it has a good chance of growing up and perhaps becoming attractive as a stud for other zoos," Schuele said.
Knut, who recently posed for a photo shoot with Leibovitz for an environmental protection campaign, is scheduled to make his public debut at the zoo later this week or early next week, according to Schuele.
Until then, Germans can follow the bear's progress in a vast photo spread and videos of Knut drinking from his bottle, bathing and playing with teddy bears and soccer balls, all available on the zoo's Web site.
They look like they are happy to me!
This is how they (the left) feel about human babies, why would animal young be any different?
These two bears were rescued back in 1995. They of course are huge now and VERY happy!! It's great to watch them from the underwater view deck. They are as graceful as dancers when they swim!
Hey, I thought polar bears only drank Coke!
These so-called human beings asserting "right to die"
for abandoned babies would undoubtedly hold the same
view for a human infant. Where do they stand on all
those 'caring idiots' that go down to the shore to
splash water on and comfort the beached whales?
Every city lucky enough to have one supports its
local zoo via public donations as well as designated
city funds. It's called the Peoples' Choice. Must
drive these whackos nuts to see monies 'wasted' like
that!
Knut really is cute. If I could choose what would rip my guts out then that would definitely be Knut.
HOW CUTE!! SO glad they saved the cute knut.
I'll buy off on the others, but I gotta give you a raised eyebrow on the Orca. As intelligent as they are, and as docile as they seem in SeaWorld, I'd have to put a lot of thought into trusting a 10 ton animal that eats critters my size as part of its natural diet with the same level of turn-your-back-on-it as a cow.
What would those activists response have been if the zoo preemptively said "The mother has abandoned these cubs so we will euthanize them and make them into hats. Bidding starts at $1000."? Those same activists would be rioting to save the bears and have them hand raised.
I know that this sort of subject matter is a bit out of the ordinary for a Pro-Life ping, but several of the posters here have drawn very compelling correlations between the abortionist / death cult mentality of the anti-life crowd and the militant "animal rights" moonbats featured in this article. There do seem to be a lot of similarities, with similarly idiotic arguments made for the killing of this baby bear as are oftentimes made for the killing of unborn children.
What a fool he is. They aren't trying to domesticate Knut... they are SAVING him. Big difference. Besides, Polar Bears are notorious for reverting to their instincts. When Knut gets older, all his care will be hands off- guaranteed.
That, and ballroom dance lessons...
"Feeding by hand is not species-appropriate but a gross violation of animal protection laws,"
Violation of animal protection laws? Huh? What about wild-kingdom laws.
I have never liked animals bring brought up in zoos and especially the cold-climate ones, but I couldn't be more opposed to the animal rights activist - they vote for a woman's right to kill baby humans, but not baby animals. That's just wrong.
Actually, the moron has a SMALL but still valid point: we (the human race) ahven't successfully domesticated any species in nearly 4000 years.
This couldn't mean that G*d has a plan, could it?
Frank was raised in a Skinner box.
Frank!
Wait about 4 years then you Frank can challenge the bear in a to-the-death wrestling match.
"Let`s get it on bitch!"
Only an animal activist would be happy to see something that cute killed.
The people at our local zoo deal with these nutjobs all the time and their slogan is *Better dead than captive bred.* Shame that they can't see that the survival of some species depends on captive breeding. They must not love animals as much as they claim.
If they really believe this, why does their ilk fight so hard against capital punishment? After all, wouldn't criminals be 'better off dead' than stuck in prison for life?
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