Knut the polar bear dies of an epileptic fit

Famous Polar Bear Knut, who collapsed and died at a Berlin Zoo in Germany last month, was killed by an epileptic fit, a post mortem revealed.

Knut was born on the 5thDecember 2006, was a polar bear who was born in captivity at the Berlin Zoological Garden. Rejected by his mother at birth, he was raised by zookeepers. He was the first polar bear cub to survive past infancy at the Berlin Zoo in more than 30 years. At one time the subject of international controversy, he became a tourist attraction and commercial success. After the German tabloid newspaper Bild ran a quote from an animal rights activist that decried keeping the cub in captivity, fans worldwide rallied in support of his being hand-raised by humans. Children protested outside the zoo, and e-mails and letters expressing sympathy for the cub’s life were sent from around the world.

Knut became the center of a mass media phenomenon dubbed “Knutmania” that spanned the globe and spawned toys, media specials, DVDs, and books. Because of this, the cub was largely responsible for a significant increase in revenue, estimated at about five million euros, at the Berlin Zoo in 2007. Zoo attendance figures for the year had increased by an estimated 30 percent, making it the most profitable year in its 163-year history.

Knut was born at the Berlin Zoo to 20-year-old Tosca, a former circus performer from East Germany who was born in Canada, and her 13-year-old mate Lars, who was originally from the Tierpark Hellabrunn in Munich. After an uncomplicated gestation, Knut and his unnamed brother were born on 5 December 2006. Tosca rejected her cubs for unknown reasons, abandoning them on a rock in the polar bear enclosure. Zookeepers rescued the cubs by scooping them out of the enclosure with an extended fishing net, but Knut’s brother died of an infection four days later. Knut was the first polar bear to have been born and survive in the Berlin Zoo in over 30 years. Only the size of a guinea pig, he spent the first 44 days of his life in an incubator before zookeeper Thomas Dörflein began raising the cub.

Knut’s need for round-the-clock care required that Dörflein not only sleep on a mattress next to Knut’s sleeping crate at night, but also play with, bathe, and feed the cub daily. Knut’s diet began with a bottle of baby formula mixed with cod liver oil every two hours, before graduating at the age of four months to a milk porridge mixed with cat food and vitamins. Dörflein also accompanied Knut on his twice-daily one-hour shows for the public and therefore appeared in many videos and photographs alongside the cub. As a result, Dörflein became a minor celebrity in Germany and was awarded Berlin’s Medal of Merit in honour of his continuous care for the cub.

Dörflein died of a heart attack on 22 September 2008. He was 44 years old.

Witnesses reported that after the bear’s rear, left leg began shaking, he became agitated before convulsing several times and falling backwards into the pool. Approximately 600 to 700 zoo visitors witnessed Knut’s death.

A statement made on 22 March in relation to the necropsy reported there were “significant changes in the brain, which may be regarded as a reason for the sudden death”. Animal welfare organizations in Germany initially accused the Berlin Zoo of negligence, claiming that Knut died of stress caused by being forced to share his enclosure with three female polar bears.

The Zoo denied such claims. Bear curator Heiner Klös stated they “did everything to look after Knut—it’s normal for polar bears to live with other polar bears in a zoo, and the idea was that Knut should learn social behavior and other skills from the older females …He played with the other bears, he was relaxed and strong”.

by Jeff Millins

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