Knut: The Polar Bear Cub

How lucky can a bear cub get? Here is one, Knut - the cute baby polar bear who soared to unprecedented popularity and became Germany's new 'poster bear'; a miracle bear and first one to survive in 30 years in the history of Berlin Zoo. The chubby little cub instantly became a celebrity. Born on the 5th of December 2006, Knut was rejected by its mother Tosca. Thomas Dörflein, the zoo keeper became Knut's caretaker.

Early Days
This polar bear cub spent the first few days of his life in an incubator. Thomas Dörflein had to take care of the bear and monitor it continuously. Knut started of with a diet of cod liver oil - every two hours, till four months; after which milk porridge became his daily diet.

Knut in Controversy
The year 2007, had a lot of controversies in store for this 3-month old. Frank Albrecht an animal right activist raised questions over Knut's upbringing by humans. His argument was that the bear would die soon after its separation from the caretaker. Albrecht suggested mercy killing as the only option in deciding the fate of this cute animal. This statement outraged the public. Children protested outside the zoo. People wanted the bear to live. In his defense, Mr Albrecht said that his statement was misinterpreted and he wanted to bring into light the killing of a sloth bear by the Leipzig Zoo. In fact, a case was filed by him against this zoo for the same reason - saving the sloth bear. The case was dismissed on the grounds that it would be inappropriate for the humans to raise the animal.

In Public Eye
Knut gained tremendous popularity in quick time. On the 23rd of March, 2007 Knut was brought into public eye with much fanfare. The press conference was attended by 400 journalists. The German media regularly published news related to Knut. Rumors related to the bears health, diet, etc. started doing the rounds in public. Both the zoo authorities and media people gained a lot out of Knut's publicity. In August 2007 alone, around 0.4 million people visited Knut. The Berlin Zoo was accused of trying to en-cash the media attention given to the bear. Since the cub was facing large crowds everyday, it became habituated to their attention. This turned it into an attention seeking baby bear. At times it became tricky for the caretakers to handle Knut; as the little creature would literally cry out of restlessness during the non-visiting hours of the zoo. Knut's popularity, however grew day-by-day. The bear's first birthday gave people another opportunity for holding a grand celebration at the zoo itself. The national treasury too, joined the public and issued 25,000 coins to mark the bear's first birthday. Celebrations at the zoo went live on television.

Knut Business
Along with popularity, Knut also brought huge sums of money to the Berlin zoo. Stock value of the zoo rose and its shares got doubled. 'Haribo' a company producing sweets launched their new sweet known as 'Cuddly Knut'. Not surprisingly a toy company, 'Steiff' decided to join the bandwagon and released three models of toys based on the polar bear cub. Knut's popular image was also used to create awareness about global warming, following a deal signed between the Berlin Zoo and Turtle Pond Publications - American publishing house. "Knut is Cute" is one of the many popular songs written with Knut as its theme. The picture of Knut appeared on the cover page of the magazine 'Vanity Fair' in Germany. As per the Berlin Zoo authorities, soon an animated movie is going to be released on the Knut's life.

Knut, the Mascot
Keeping aside the publicity and commercial success, Knut has the potential to become a symbol motivating us to save the wildlife all over the world. The polar bear was used as a mascot for the conference held in Bonn, Germany on the subject, 'Endangered Species' in the year 2008.

Let's hope that Knut creates more and more awareness about issues like global warming and conveys the message of saving the wildlife on this planet.