She may well have. According to this article, Knut suffered what sounds like seizure or a stroke, and died immediately.
Knut was seen to shake as he made his way into the pool with his left leg trailing. He never got out of the water again.
Posted on 03/22/2011 12:21:44 PM PDT by Red Badger
Brain problems apparently caused the shockingly early death of Knut, Germany's four-year-old celebrity polar bear, the Berlin Zoo said Tuesday.
Initial findings from a necropsy performed Monday by an institute in the German capital showed "significant changes to the brain, which can be viewed as a reason for the polar bear's sudden death," the zoo said in a statement.
The zoo didn't elaborate on the changes to the animal's brain, and officials could not immediately be reached for further comment.
Pathologists found no changes to any other organs, the zoo said, adding that it will take several days to produce a final result. Further planned tests include bacteriological and histological, or tissue, examinations.
Knut died Saturday afternoon in front of visitors at the zoo, turning around several times and then falling into the water in his enclosure. Polar bears usually live 15 to 20 years in the wild and even longer in captivity.
Knut, who was born in December 2006 at the Berlin zoo, rose to celebrity status as an irresistibly cute, fluffy cub.
Knut was rejected by his mother at birth - along with his twin brother, who only survived a couple of days. He attracted attention when his main caregiver, Thomas Doerflein, camped out at the zoo to give the button-eyed cub his bottle every two hours.
The bear went on to appear on magazine covers, in a film and on mountains of merchandise.
Doerflein, the zookeeper who raised him, died in 2008 of a heart attack.
The zoo now wants to have Knut stuffed and put on display at Berlin's Museum of Natural History, the German news agency DAPD reported.
It quoted a zoo spokeswoman as saying that the decision was made because Knut was a much-loved animal and officials wanted to make him available to science.
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
I told my wife I hope you cry this much when I die.
Absolutely, that’s why she abandoned him. Animals do that
The video looked like he was having a bad seizure to me. Looked real painful.
Someone said the zoo kept him with 3 females who were bullying him. ??? Animals like kids and people will sense who is weak. Maybe he was sick.
Depends on the size of your life insurance policy..............
In the wild I would think whatever brain disease he had would have taken him out long before now.
“like kids and people”
You don’t happen to work in daycare do you? LOL!
The truth is the zookeepers gave Knute four years - almost a third of a normal lifespan - that mother nature would've denied him.
Had he and his twin been born in the wild, they would not have survived more than a few hours...............
IF it was a seizure, it was probably not painful, altho it was probably disorienting and unpleasant. It did look like a seizure or I guess perhaps a stroke. Makes you wonder what could cause that in a young, apparently healthy bear and I would be interested to see further results. Could be some congenital anomaly, or even poisoning, I suppose. Or brain damage from something else, OR even one of those “we can’t really find a cause” things (seizures fall into that category a lot more than many people realize). It sure looked like he probably had a seizure (or stroke) and then fell into the water and possibly drowned. Sad end, but I’m sure PETA will now say we should not keep any animals in zoos.
Oh, and I don’t know about bears, but seizures are not uncommon in dogs, and if wild bears have seizures, they probably just die pretty young and that’s that.
I have seizures and the movements he was having are very similar to what I’ve experienced and the pain in worse than anything else. It wasn’t like some of the ones where I’ve passed out quick, this one lasted awhile. Awful.
Awww ...
He was a cute little bear.
Here is video of his final moments. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=o9P_gUtZN-E
He is clearly not comfortable.
mad cow disease?
Mad Cow Disease usually comes from ingesting prion infested food.
I doubt that his food supply was infected...............
Actually, Polar bears don’t really hang out together in the wild, I’m not sure exactly why they would keep a group together, it seems like a potentially bad idea. Not that I’m a polar bear expert, but they keep their distance, if nature shows are to be believed.
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