Germany has another Knut, but this time it's a girl, and her name is Flocke!!! :)

Remember cutie pie Knut, the polar bear cub that was handraised in the zoo of Berlin last year?

Well, now there's another little polar bear baby, born in Nuremberg 4 weeks ago. Originally there were even three cubs, born by two mothers. But last week, one of the mothers ate her twins, and after the other female started displaying a strange behavior by carrying her baby around, the zoo director decided to take the cub away from her and have it handraised by the keepers. The sad thing is; she started acting like that after a camera team came too close to the box in which she nursed her baby. After that, she became nervous and carried the little bear around, looking for another place, but there was none. Under the pressure of animal rights groups, they decided not to risk another life. But there's a discussion now not to have polar bears in zoos at all.

The little girl has no official name yet, but they started to call her Flocke (Flake). Check the link with pictures and video; she's as cute as Knut! ;)

Polar bear girl Flocke

I hope she'll be alright, and will have a safe and happy life, and always be healthy.

Here's another link: Cute baby bear (This one has the cutest video, check it out! :) )

And here are photos!!

Kirsten

Glad to see they've come to their senses at last :mad:

She is a bit of a cutie

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Originally Posted by Brody's Mum

Glad to see they've come to their senses at last :mad:

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Yes, in the beginning, they refused to handraise the cubs, if they did, two more lives could have been spared...

On the other hand, it's said it's almost impossible to integrate a hand-raised polar bear into a group of other polar bears later, and it will be problematic to find a place for them. That's what they wanted to avoid, so they left them with their mothers. Unfortunately, two cubs lost their lives. :(

For this little girl, I heard they are looking for another bear cub to raise them together, so they can learn some "bear behaviour" from each other.

Kirsten

I have seen it yesterday to the news, but I did not know there were other cubs that died :(

Well, the baby is very cute! It is amazing to see how small the newborns are, compared to the mother's size.

How sweet that tiny baby is!

What a cute little fleece ball.

;) ;) WoW just too Cute & Adorable for words..

Before we act to harsh on the zoo: they said in the beginning that of course the best way to raise a polar bear is to have him raised by his mom- they just weren't sure that under the zoo conditions the moms would know how to to do it.
Handraising is even more of a risk than leaving them with their moms (small animals get their immunity against infections with the milk from their mom and are extremely in danger of dying from the slightest infection when they are handraised) - so it was a last resort and of course we all will hope that little Flocke (as in snow-flake) survives :) I saw a video this morning and she is just the cutest thing ever.

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Originally Posted by Kirsten

The sad thing is; she started acting like that after a camera team came too close to the box in which she nursed her baby. After that, she became nervous and carried the little bear around, looking for another place, but there was none. Under the pressure of animal rights groups, they decided not to risk another life. But there's a discussion now not to have polar bears in zoos at all.

Kirsten

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Pitiful. :( I wonder why they don't spay/neuter the adults & they would
spare them the trouble of dealing with babies who cannot thrive with their
mothers in a more natual enviroment..

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Originally Posted by lizbud

Pitiful. :( I wonder why they don't spay/neuter the adults & they would
spare them the trouble of dealing with babies who cannot thrive with their
mothers in a more natual enviroment..

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Exactly. But don't forget, it's the babies that drive the visitors to the zoos. :rolleyes:

BTW, a part of me can see the zoo's point, that they wanted to give the mothers a chance to raise their babies, but they said in the beginning that hand-raising (like in Berlin with Knut) would be no option, no matter what happens. After the drama with the mother that ate her babies, animal right groups put a lot of pressure on the zoo to save at least the remaining cub if the mother starts acting strange. They argued that humans are very well responsible for the babies when they breed in such an unnatural environment, and that is a good point, I think.

But wow, this baby girl is already a celebrity. She got her own website today, where people can suggest a name. They got so many emails today that their server broke down. :rolleyes:

http://www.nuernberg.de/internet/eisbaer/

Kirsten

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Originally Posted by Kirsten

After the drama with the mother that ate her babies, animal right groups put a lot of pressure on the zoo to save at least the remaining cub if the mother starts acting strange. They argued that humans are very well responsible for the babies when they breed in such an unnatural environment, and that is a good point, I think.

http://www.nuernberg.de/internet/eisbaer/

Kirsten

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I understand what you are saying and agree that "cute & cuddly" has a
place in the world but, why use the birth as a cash enterprise?

They are responsible for the babies ,as they allowed them to be born.

I think we can do a lot better job as animal stewards. :)

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why use the birth as a cash enterprise?

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Just the human nature, I suppose... :( The Berlin zoo made a lot of extra money with Knut, and he still has fans. But he is now a teenage bear who's sitting alone in his enclosure. He cannot live with other bears because he's not used to it, and he's missing his care taker who raised him, but who cannot play with him anymore because Knut is too big now. Sort of sad.

And yet I do believe that humans are responsible and have to save the cubs' lives when they are in danger. And I hope the little girl will survive, and live a good life!

Kirsten

Today, a jury agreed that "Flocke" (flake, snow flake) will be her official name. She's already used to it.

More than 30,000 suggestions for a new name have been sent in, but she will keep the name the caretakers have already given to her as a nickname.

She's doing fine, btw, and has opened her eyes meanwhile! :)

Kirsten

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The sad thing is; she started acting like that after a camera team came too close to the box in which she nursed her baby

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Words fail me :rolleyes:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/...2/35100436.jpg

From the Chicago Tribune on line. Isn't she cute? Look at her tongue! (I love polar bears. :))

Hey- this one's a girl- look at her watching herself in the mirror ;)

She made her public debut today - see video here!

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe...ef=mpstoryview

Awww, that's sooo cute! :) Thanks for the link, Karen!

But wow, she's looking big already, much bigger than Knut at that age!

Kirsten