Hope for baby bear
A zoo in Germany has changed its mind on the fate of a baby polar bear
A big row broke out over the decision by keepers at Nuremberg Zoo to let nature take its course and leave its new polar bear cubs to die if their mothers kept rejecting them. But the zoo was criticised for "letting nature take it's course", as would happen in the wild, instead of helping the cubs.
The reaction to world news coverage and footage showing one of the bears, Vera, carrying her cub around her enclosure in her jaws and continuously dropping it, seems to have prompted a change of heart. Now keepers have begun bottle-feeding Vera's cub and claim the young animal's safety is the number one issue.
Nuremberg Zoo is anxious to avoid getting in the same situation as Berlin Zoo which successfully hand-reared another cub abandoned by its mother, Knut. Little Knut, weighed only 810 grams when he was born and spent the first 44 days of his life in an incubator, being provided with 24-hour care and fed milk from a bottle six times a day.
The tiny bear's popularity grew so much that he became a worldwide celebrity. There was even a TV show and a blog dedicated to him. Polar bears' habitat is under threat. They are members of an endangered species. If these magnificent creatures are to be kept in zoos, where "nature", at least in the case of environment, could not be further away, the very least their keepers should do is look after them and their young.
The reaction to world news coverage and footage showing one of the bears, Vera, carrying her cub around her enclosure in her jaws and continuously dropping it, seems to have prompted a change of heart. Now keepers have begun bottle-feeding Vera's cub and claim the young animal's safety is the number one issue.
Nuremberg Zoo is anxious to avoid getting in the same situation as Berlin Zoo which successfully hand-reared another cub abandoned by its mother, Knut. Little Knut, weighed only 810 grams when he was born and spent the first 44 days of his life in an incubator, being provided with 24-hour care and fed milk from a bottle six times a day.
The tiny bear's popularity grew so much that he became a worldwide celebrity. There was even a TV show and a blog dedicated to him. Polar bears' habitat is under threat. They are members of an endangered species. If these magnificent creatures are to be kept in zoos, where "nature", at least in the case of environment, could not be further away, the very least their keepers should do is look after them and their young.