I can’t believe it, only two years old, and the cute polar bear that captured everyones heart is suddenly being made a persona non grata. According to Berlin Zoo Knut is no longer cute and therefore no longer welcome. That’s the sad reality of Zoos in some places!
The Britney Spears of zoos? Is she really THAT huggable?
I’m especially upset because I met Knut in Berlin just after the book Knut by Craig Hatkoff and his daugters Juliana and Isabella was published. They were my co authors on Owen and Mzee the extraordinary story about the baby hippo tsunami orphan who adopted a giant tortoise as his ‘mom’ as well as the story of an orphaned baby gorilla Looking for Miza.
Apparently Knut’s second birthday is not to be celebrated tomorrow, the 5th of December by the zoo, causing thousands of fans to protest. Knut’s fame was unprecedented and although every zoo probably wishes for a Knut, an Owen and Mzee, or a dog that adopts white tiger cubs, the Berlin Zoo claims to be tired of the massive public adoration of Knut…..and unbelievable to most, they plan to send him to another zoo. So much for zoos caring about their animals and being responsible towards these extraordinary animals etc.
Poor Knut, it was bad enough to be born in a Zoo, then his mother abandoned him, and then he lost his keeper Thomas Dorflien who died in September. Now he’s to be shipped of to another Zoo – perhaps it’s time for another book Knut II: the cruel abandonment!
For more photos check out this website here and this video on You tube
Donations made here are
Feb 28th Liza H USD 11.00
11 Comments
I’m appalled but, after two years volunteering at the National Zoo, not surprised. Isn’t the director of the Berlin Zoo the same one who sold some non-human animals for slaughter? http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/unbearable-zoo-mystery-turns-into-potboiler/2008/03/28/1206207408578.html
He’s not the only one, either. PETA has investigated lots of zoos, including the National Zoo, and found they sell “surplus” wildlife to any USDA-approved facility. Most of these animals are slaughtered for exotic meat or their fur, parts are used in the illegal wildife trade, or they languish in filthy cages for the rest of their short lives.
Knut was nothing more than a moneymaker to the Berlin Zoo, and now that he’s no longer considered cute, and so habituated to humans that he most likely will never mate, he’s of no use to the conservationists at the Berlin Zoo.
This lack of concern or caring for individual members of species by many conservationists is one of my major pet peeves. It’s also the reason that zoos in general abhor animal rights activists, because we’re concerned about species conservation and we’re concerned about the care and management of the individuals.
If Knut’s treatment by the Berlin Zoo pisses you off, then write to them and tell them what you think. The link to the contact form follows in the next comment.
s.
http://www.zoo-berlin.de/en/metanavigation/contact.html
Contact Zoo Berlin!
s.
I read about this this morning and saw a video – Knut before (cute) and now (dirty and pacing back and forth). Shame, shame on the Berlin zoo for neglecting him now that his ‘cuteness’ is gone. I just pray that whatever zoo gets him will take better care of him.
Yeah, just love the National Zoo in Washington-NOT! They sure have had a bad track record with deaths of animals and now you say they sell surplus animals for slaughter? Good God!
No. I did not say that the National Zoo sells surplus animals for slaughter. I have no evidence, nor does PETA, that they’ve ever done that. They have, in the past, before the 2005 National Academy of Sciences report was published citing mismanagement at the zoo, sold animals to USDA-approved facilities that were not zoos. IMO, the National Zoo has a better record than most for care and management of wildlife.
s.
Poor Knut……….they better find somewhere to take care of him…….he didn’t ask for any of this…….sad to hear his keeper who helped raise him passed away in Sept. I had no idea!
It is completely disgusting and inhumane…. ALL zoos should be shut down in my view… they achieve nothing! The tragedy is that Knut was not abandoned in the beginning by his mother, they thought she “might” so took “precautions” and took him away and hand reared him as he was so “important” to them… why humans mess around with nature I shall never ever comprehend… Its a true tragedy. Frankly he would be better off in another place and get away from this cruel planet.
Sorry Sheryl “USDA-approved facility” – guess I misunderstood what you meant. What then is a USDA-approved facility?
Hi Dana. Sadly, just about any roadside “zoo” or farm where animals are tortured and abused (remember the Hallmark/Westland slaughterhouse scandal?) can get a USDA approval it seems, and some zoos will send animals to these places without physically checking them out. The big zoos, the AZA facilities, have USDA animal management approval, but as we’ve seen in some of these investigations into circuses and slaughter plants, it doesn’t mean that non-human animals are treated well.
Here’s an example often cited by PETA – http://www.libraryindex.com/pages/2193/Entertainment-Animals-ZOOS.html:
“In August 2002 a journalist with U.S. News and World Report wrote about the animal disposal practices of some major U.S. zoos (Michael Satchell, “Cruel and Usual,” August 5, 2002). The reporter tracked down a dozen primates, birds, and other exotic animals that had left the prestigious Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse, New York, for a menagerie in TX. He found the animals living in filthy cages alongside an interstate highway amid trash and weeds. The menagerie had gone out of business.
The executive director of the Rosamond Gifford Zoo, which is accredited by the AZA, said that she had relied on references and information supplied by the TX facility to make her decision. Satchell, however, pointed out that if the director had checked with the USDA she would have found that unfavorable inspection reports had been issued for the menagerie.
As posted on its Web site in 2005, the AZA’s code of ethics requires accredited institutions to acquire animals from and dispose of animals to other AZA institutions or to non-AZA members with “the expertise, records management capabilities, financial stability, and facilities required to properly care for and maintain the animals.” The U.S. News and World Report article claimed that this procedure is often violated by AZA zoos that “loan” or “donate” unwanted animals to unaccredited roadside zoos and animal parks. These facilities are frequently substandard and provide poor care. The article quoted a HSUS spokesperson as saying that the practice is “the dirty little secret” of the respectable zoos.”
So, even though this menagerie had bad reports from the USDA, animals that the zoo no longer wanted were sent there.
Now, I do not believe that all zoos treat the animals in their collection this way. In 2005, the National Academies (my employer) released the report “Animal Care and Management at the National Zoo.” You can read it for free online and I’ll post the URL in the next comment. Since that report was released, the National Zoo had done a lot to clean up its act and is still repairing and rebuilding. Still, there are some animals that simply cannot thrive in zoos, especially elephants, and so I won’t argue that with you. But, I believe there is a place for zoos to maintain genetically diverse populations of endangered species as a back up to the wild populations. We may lose polar bears in the Arctic in as little as 10 years – shouldn’t we work harder to see that captive bears and their offspring live as naturally as possible until we humans fix our problems and can return them to the wild?
I know this wandered around a bit but I hope I answered your question. I believe that Knut is worth a few million dollars in new habitat so he can mate successfully and be well cared for and I intend to write to the Berlin Zoo and tell them so. I think we all should write.
s.
BTW, the spam filter will not post your comment if you spell out the state of TX. Is that a bad word in another language?
s.
Knut can be very happy to leave the Zoo at Berlin! If you would like to see in what conditions he has to life so look at te following video:
http://www.peta.de/unterhaltung/kleines_gehege_und_verhaltensstrungen.1820.html
He is lifing in a backyard-cave of some meter quare whithout any visitors!
I agree, he deserves a far better home. He’s only 2 years old and already displayed two stereotypical behaviors in that video (pacing and head nodding). I don’t see any enrichment for him and, judging by the news stories, it’s unlikely that he gets any. Zoo Berlin should be forced to close and send their non-human animals to sanctuaries or much bigger and better zoos.
s.