Once upon a time in a faraway land called Germany, a cute little fluffy white Polar Bear was born in a zoo in the city of Berlin. He was given the name of Knut. The year was 2006 on the 5th of December and it was the first time in 30 years that a Polar Bear had been born at the zoo. But all was not well as his mother soon rejected poor little Knut and his twin brother. Knut survived by being bottle fed around the clock but his twin brother did not make it. From then on Knut became an international star as he grew up in front of the world. As bright as his star would become it would soon dim and eventually be extinguished in tragedy.

Keeper Thomas Doerflein had saved his life by hand-rearing him and Knut and Thomas had developed a very close bond. They spent many wonderful days together during the next 2 years. But their bond was abruptly broken in September 2008, when Doerflein died suddenly from a heart attack. Speculation was that because Doerflein had been recently banned from Knut's enclosure due to the fact that Knut had become too dangerous, that Doerflein had reportedly died from a broken heart.

It was at this sad time that Knut's bright star began to dim. Yes, he was still well known internationally and had made a lot of money for the Berlin Zoo, to the grand sum of £6million ($8.5million). But Knut soon grew depressed and lonesome after the death of his best friend and keeper, Thomas Doerflein. A female Polar bear was then brought in for a short time and Knut did better until she was returned to the zoo in Italy.

Once again, Knut became depressed so he was then moved into an enclosure with Tosca, his mother who had rejected him, and 2 other female Polar Bears. But soon visitors began complaining that the trio had been ganging up on Knut and threatening him, and that he often sat hiding in a corner of the enclosure looking depressed. Canadian polar bear expert Else Poulsen was reported to have said just last month that Knut's life with three other polar bears was "monotonous, outdated and cruel," and that he was losing fur and didn't have enough muscle for a four-year-old. He just didn't have enough room for himself and was under enormous stress.

Then on that fateful day of March 19th, 2011 ,Knut who was only 4 years old, collapsed and died in front of a crowd of 660 visitors at the zoo. He began to convulse for several minutes and then abruptly fell into the pool and floated ­motionless as horrified onlookers watched and children began to cry. His once bright star was quickly extinguished.

Since then the Berlin Zoo has been loudly criticized from a local member of parliament, animal rights groups and wild life experts that it had been cramming too many animals into too little space, including celebrity polar bear Knut, whose premature death could have been avoided. An autopsy has just found that Knut had died after suffering an epileptic fit and falling into the water.



Only to add insult to injury, the Berlin Zoo has made a recent announcement that the remains of Knut will be stuffed and put on display at the museum. During his short life, (Polar Bears can live up to 20 yrs. in captivity) Knut was a big money maker for the zoo. Now in his premature death, this sad bear should be allowed to rest in peace and dignity and not be exploited once again as a money draw for the museum. The zoo is claiming that this is what the people of Germany would want, but in reality this is far from what the people want. They just want to honor the tragic life of a very special and very misunderstood Polar Bear who only wanted to live in peace!

Please take a minute to sign several petitions that are against using Knut as a stuffed money maker. Let him be at rest with his dignity for all eternity!

Knut gehört nicht ins Museum

Zoo contact info to let them know you don't want Knut to be stuffed and on display:
Dr. Bernhard Blaszkiewitz / Director of Zoo and Tierpark Berlin
Gabriele Thöne / Member of board of directors
Hardenbergplatz 8
10787 Berlin
Tel.: +49 30 254 01 232
Fax: +49 30 254 01 255
E-Mail: info@zoo-berlin.de

Petition against stuffing Knut.

Video : Tragic life of Knut