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

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.

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

Kirsten