SakshiRejected
The Berlin zoo had another famous addition when Knut was born to Tosca a 20-year-old bear in December 2006. He was the first cub to live past infancy in almost 30 years in Berlin zoo. Unfortunately, he got rejected by his mother at the time he was born. His mother abandoned him and his brother at a rock in the polar bear enclosure. The zookeepers immediately came into action and rescued both the cubs by scooping them out of the enclosure with the help of fishing rod. Whereas Knut’s brother died four days after due to the infection, Knuts had to spend 44 days in an incubator. His miserable life took a positive turn when Thomas Dorflein, a zookeeper decided to raise him singlehandedly.
Becoming His Surrogate Mother
Looking after a cub was not an easy feat. He acted as a surrogate mother for the cub for nearly 18 months. Dörflein had his sleeping mattress adjacent to Knut’s crate where he used to sleep at night. He was the best caretaker Knut could ever have. Dörflein used to bath, feed and play with him. He made sure that Knut is safe and secure in every possible way. He also gave extra care to Knut’s diet that kept changing with his age. During infancy, he hand-fed cub with a bottle of baby formula blended in cod liver oil at the interval of every two hours. And when he grew four months old his diet included milk porridge mixed with cat food and vitamins.
Boundless Love
He fulfilled every duty of a mother. It was he who gave him the name Knut. He explained the reason behind christening him Knut “he just looks like a Knut,” He used to pamper the cub by rubbing oils on his body, lulled him to sleep by singing Elvis’ hit songs. They were never too old to realize why it happened.
Kicking Controversy
Knut was hardly a year old when a controversy followed him in March 2007. It started when Frank Albrecht an animal right activist stated to Bild-Zeitung a German tabloid, that instead of raising the cub by humans he should have been killed. He tried to advocate his view by calling the act illegal as it was against the animal protection legislation. Another zoo director Wolfram Graf-Rudolf supported the view of Albrecht by saying zookeepers “should have had the courage to let the bear die.” But their suggestion did not go well with the public. In order to show their anger, a bunch of students staged a protest in the zoo with holding up the placards that read “We Love Knut” and “Knut Must Live.”
Tricking The World
People from all corner of the world sent emails and letters to the zoo asking them not to euthanize the little cub. The anger of public can be fathomed by the fact that Albrecht who supported the killing of Knut started receiving threats. Albrecht responded by clarifying that he was just trying to bring people’s attention towards the law. He had been through the same situation in 2006 when he tried to stop Leipzig Zoo who was about to kill a sloth bear cub because he was rejected by his mother by seeking legal help. But he lost the case as the law supported the zoo by stating that humans can’t raise animals as it is against the law of nature. This time he just wanted people to know about this merciless law. Fortunately, no harm was done to Knut, thanks to the love showered on him from all over the world.
Much-Awaited First Appearance
Finally came the day when he appeared for the first time before the general public. The day was highly celebrated as Knut had already become famous. The Berlin zoo was thronged with 400 journalists on that particular day which was called “Knut Day” to record the first show up of the famous cub. Knut’s fame transcended all the boundaries and the media had gone mad for a single glance of the cub. This phenomenon began to be called “Knutmania.” The Knutmania had influenced the entire world including toys, media specials, books, and DVDs. In 2007, the revenue of the zoo highly increased with attendance of the visitors gone up by 30 percent, thanks to Knut. It may interest you to note that 2007 recorded the highest revenue in the past 163 years of zoo history.