Is Zoo at Fault for Polar Bear Knut’s Death?
SodaHead News
2011/03/21 15:00:00
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He may have been the world’s most popular polar bear, a Walt Disney story come to life. Rejected by his mother just days after his birth in a Berlin Zoo five years ago, Knut the cuddly polar bear, grew into an international superstar, garnering thousands of Facebook followers and landing on the cover of Vanity Fair magazine.
Now, in the wake of his unexpected death at age 4 at the Berlin zoo on Saturday, shocked fans are desperate to know what killed the bear. Polar bears typically live 15-20 years or longer in captivity and ABC News reported that one of the biggest trending topics on Sunday on Twitter was “how did he die?”
Knut’s keeper at the zoo said the bear was by himself in his enclosure and was not sick when he died. Zoo officials planned to conduct a post-mortem on Monday to search for clues as to what felled Knut, who was coming into breeding age and was the equivalent of an 18-year-old human man.
Among the potential causes of death experts suspected were the psychological trauma of being captive, parasites or diseases that sometimes fester at zoos and the outside possibility that Knut swallowed a sharp object tossed in his pen by a visitor.
In the end, it’s also possible Knut died of something much simpler: a broken heart caused by the early separation from his mother.
Is zoo to blame for Knut’s death?
Now, in the wake of his unexpected death at age 4 at the Berlin zoo on Saturday, shocked fans are desperate to know what killed the bear. Polar bears typically live 15-20 years or longer in captivity and ABC News reported that one of the biggest trending topics on Sunday on Twitter was “how did he die?”
Knut’s keeper at the zoo said the bear was by himself in his enclosure and was not sick when he died. Zoo officials planned to conduct a post-mortem on Monday to search for clues as to what felled Knut, who was coming into breeding age and was the equivalent of an 18-year-old human man.
Among the potential causes of death experts suspected were the psychological trauma of being captive, parasites or diseases that sometimes fester at zoos and the outside possibility that Knut swallowed a sharp object tossed in his pen by a visitor.
In the end, it’s also possible Knut died of something much simpler: a broken heart caused by the early separation from his mother.
Is zoo to blame for Knut’s death?
Top Opinion
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Undecided
+8How the hell are we supposed to know? At least it wasn't killed by some scumbucket like Sarah palin for a fur coat. It is a shame how mankind treats animals and this one was such a nice guy.
Really should be waiting for the autopsy results before jumping to conclusions...
He is gone, now we must save the ones remaining. R.I.P. little guy , we love and miss you. It appears that you may have been better left alone, I am so sorry !
It's sad that in order to save species of the world's animals, mankind is forced to lock them up and enact forced breeding practices to sustain the species. Poor little Knute had such a short and sad little life.
However, it would appear that the question implies malicious intent or poor husbandry. While I suspect the answer will be NO, since the post mortem is pending all any rational individual can do is wait for results
Yes that's ridiculous, and so is most of this crud of how it died.
A necropsy will tell you how ....unless God called and there is no physical evidence except the cell phone.
Polar bears are perhaps my favorite animal in the world, so I'm certainly not callous to this loss.
Knut and his brother were rejected by their mother. This happens often when the mother senses something wrong with offspring. In nature few have the luxury of wasting energy raising young that will die from defects. The zoo saved him, gave him the life he had for the time he had. It is sad but hardly surprising he died so young. In the wild he would have died within hours as an infant once he was abandoned. Starvation or freezing, neither as attractive as the 4 years he did have.
Bull. Nor did he die of a broken heart caused by the suicide of his first keeper, the man who fed him as a baby, a couple of years ago.
Whatever killed poor Knut, it wasn't this sentimental nonsense. I never saw him in person, but admired him very much from afar and hoped he'd have a long life and many cubs.
We can't know if the zoo was at fault until the necropsy provides more info.
Here in Houston you pay like 22 dollars a person to get into the Zoo.
Its heart breaking to see the beaten down animals in their little cages (jails sells) and watch them walk from one end to the other, pacing back and forth over and over.