ANW is sorry to report the passing of Knut, the polar bear who was hand-raised by humans at the Berlin Zoo after being rejected by his mother, and who stole hearts of millions of other humans the world over. He became famous because animal activists saw in his birth and raising the essence of what they see as zoo cruelty, and called for the zoo keepers to let him die -- which, of course, caused outrage in those who couldn't stand to see such a beautiful creature die. It's a difficult situation. All ANW can say at this point -- from having seen him "in bear" at the Berlin Zoo -- is that we're sorry to see him go at such a young age (he was only 4 years old). R.I.P., Knut. We hope that you are catching salmon and skipping on ice floes in polar-bear-heaven.Sunday, March 20, 2011
R.I.P. Knut
ANW is sorry to report the passing of Knut, the polar bear who was hand-raised by humans at the Berlin Zoo after being rejected by his mother, and who stole hearts of millions of other humans the world over. He became famous because animal activists saw in his birth and raising the essence of what they see as zoo cruelty, and called for the zoo keepers to let him die -- which, of course, caused outrage in those who couldn't stand to see such a beautiful creature die. It's a difficult situation. All ANW can say at this point -- from having seen him "in bear" at the Berlin Zoo -- is that we're sorry to see him go at such a young age (he was only 4 years old). R.I.P., Knut. We hope that you are catching salmon and skipping on ice floes in polar-bear-heaven.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
That is very sad indeed. When I saw all the icing on his one year old cake I thought no one could eat that without consequences. Apparently, he was a croissant lover. They are saying human food might have given him a heart attack. How many more signs do they need at Zoos?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the meditation on zoos, juribe. I think more and more that they should only hold animals of prey, not predators. The former seem unbothered by the limitations to their freedom, but the big cats and other predators, like bears, do often seem freaked out.
ReplyDeleteNews about Knut: it seems he died of a brain illness, not croissants. Poor guy. At least he died after mating with his two girlfriends (and lovely they are! I saw them!) He really went out with a bang, so to speak!