Wrong to save baby polar bear?

[estranged4life]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17703212/

Comments fuel debate over whether humans should raise abandoned cub



The Associated Press

BERLIN - Berlin Zoo's abandoned polar bear cub Knut looks cute, cuddly and has become a front-page media darling, but an animal rights activist insists it was wrong to intervene and save the cub.

"Feeding by hand is not species-appropriate but a gross violation of animal protection laws," animal rights activist Frank Albrecht was quoted as saying by the mass-circulation Bild daily, which has featured regular photo spreads tracking fuzzy Knut's frolicking.

"The zoo must kill the bear."

When Knut — or "Cute Knut," as the 19 pound bear has become known — was born last December, his mother ignored him and his brother, who later died. Zoo officials intervened, choosing to raise the cub themselves.

The story prompted quick condemnations from the zoo, politicians and other animal rights groups.

"The killing of an animal has nothing to do with animal protection," said Wolfgang Apel, head of the German Federation for the Protection of Animals.

Greens politician Undine Kurth called the suggestion "fully unacceptable." Petra Pau of the opposition Left Party invoked the widely-reported case of an Italian bear dubbed "Bruno" that wandered last year into southern Germany, only to be killed by hunters at the behest of local authorities worried about residents and livestock.

"Berlin is not Bavaria, therefore it will be better for Knut than Bruno," Pau said.

Wrong to kill him now, activist says
Albrecht told The Associated Press that his beliefs were more nuanced than reported by Bild, though he applauded the debate the article had started.

He explained that though he thought it was wrong of the zoo to have saved the cub's life, now that the bear can live on his own, it would be equally wrong to kill him.

"If a polar bear mother rejected the baby, then I believe the zoo must follow the instincts of nature," Albrecht said. "In the wild, it would have been left to die."


The German animal rights organization "Four Paws" argued along similar lines, saying it would not be right to punish the cub for a bad decision made by the zoo.

Other activists have also argued that current treatment of the cub is inhumane and could lead to future difficulties interacting with fellow polar bears.

"They cannot domesticate a wild animal," Ruediger Schmiedel, head of the Foundation for Bears, told Der Spiegel weekly in its Monday edition.

Albrecht cited a similar case of a baby sloth bear that was abandoned by its mother last December in the Leipzig city zoo and killed by lethal injection, rather than being kept alive by humans.

Protection against extinction?
But Knut belongs to the Berlin Zoo, and their veterinarian Andre Schuele, charged with caring for him, disagrees.

"These criticisms make me angry, but you can't take them so seriously," Andre Schuele said. "Polar bears live alone in the wild; I see no logical reason why this bear should be killed."

Schuele also argued that given the increased rarity of polar bears in the wild, it makes sense to keep them alive in captivity so that they can be bred.

"Polar bears are under threat of extinction, and if we feed the bear with a bottle, it has a good chance of growing up and perhaps becoming attractive as a stud for other zoos," Schuele said.

Knut, who recently posed for a photo shoot with star-photographer Annie Leibovitz for an environmental protection campaign, is scheduled to make his public debut at the zoo later this week or early next week, according to Schuele.

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[DrummerDeanna]

I read about this. I have mixed feelings. Had this bear been in the wild..yes it would have died. But this bear is not in the wild and Polar Bears are somewhat solitary creatures anyway - so I don't see that's wrong to save it. And I love looking at all the cute baby polar bear pictures

[gretchen]

Oh God, look at that little bebe...

[Stew_Matthews]

I caught some of this story on the TV. Slightly controversially, I wish the bear had been left to die . I think Zoos are terribly cruel - can you imagine being locked up all your life with these weird people staring at you all day. I don't get any of that research and conservation arguement behind keeping them.

It makes me laugh though when I see this 'cutesy' image that the polar bear has. They scare us ****less! We get the WWF to microchip the ones near us so we can monitor where they are. If you saw what they did to seals and whales, you'd soon be a vegetarian

But to prove I'm not a heartless bast*rd, and as Deanna like them, here's a Russian group. It's a bit blurred cos I took it from about 800 metres away.

[catinthedark]

we did this story the other night, and seriously, no one was listening to a WORD the reporter said. everyone around the newsdesk was just going, ohmyGOD!!! he's SO cute!!! oooooh! (and we had all seen the footage of the sweet baby, like, about 53 times). seriously, baby polar bears are just about the cutest creatures on the face of the earth.

i can't for one second understand why it would be more humane to kill this bear. i hate zoos - i refuse to go to zoos. but the fact is, he is THERE, he doesn't have a mum. sure, he would have died in the wild, but he is not in the wild, so it seems that debate is over. why not just raise him and keep him in the zoo? he is already tamed. why is it better to kill him?

[DeeGeMe]

I also totally don't get the "we need to kill him" school of thought. He's here, he's alive, and yes, maybe life in a zoo isn't ideal but it's got to be better than death doesn't it?

[markolas]

Am I the only one who sees the irony in animal rights activists arguing that the bear ought to be killed? With friends like these...

[carrie721]

Originally Posted by markolas

Am I the only one who sees the irony in animal rights activists arguing that the bear ought to be killed? With friends like these...

[DrummerDeanna]

Anyone here ever read Life of Pi? It really changed the way I think of zoos.

[michelle2677]

I do agree they are pulling on the heartstrings a little by showing this cute little guy. but I still feel it should have been saved. "I" would have saved it. i just don't understand the big deal with saving it I would understand had they let it die, THEN the controversy it's just back asswards if you ask me. what's the harm??

if it were a dog, or cat and someone let it die they would be all over that like flies on poopy.


with that said, I want a miniature polar bear

[Miss Vicky]

While I agree with the sentiment that zoos are cruel and that captivity is not right for wild creatures, I hardly see how death would be more humane in this case and I think this jackass who claims to be "an activist" is a disgrace to the animal rights/wildlife conservation movement.