http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42166988/ns/world_news-europe/ Knut, Berlin's beloved polar bear, dies in his compound BERLIN â Berlin's beloved polar bear Knut, who rose to stardom when he was hand-raised by zoo keepers after being rejected by his mother rejected at birth, died on Saturday, a zoo official said. The world-famous bear died alone in his compound, bear keeper Heiner Kloes told The Associated Press. "He was by himself in his compound, he was in the water, and then he was dead," said Kloes. "He was not sick, we don't know why he died." A post mortem will be conducted on Monday to try pinpoint his cause of death, he said. Between 600 and 700 people were at Knut's compound and saw the four-year-old bear die, German news agency DAPD reported. Photoblog: More images of Germany's most famous bear Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit called Knut's death "awful." "We all held him so dearly," Wowereit told daily newspaper B.Z. "He was the star of the Berlin zoos." The polar bear rose to global fame after he was rejected by his mother when he was born in captivity on December 5, 2006. The fluffy cub was shown to the public 15 weeks later, and attendance at the zoo has roughly doubled since, officials said. The resulting "Knutmania" led to a 2007 Vanity Fair cover with actor Leonardo DiCaprio shot by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz, a film and plush likenesses. Though the zoo has never released exact numbers, Knut merchandise including postcards, key chains, candy and stuffed Knuts have brought in hundreds of thousands of euros.
Alone, in his pool? Possible causes- a)Loneliness b)Drowning. Perhaps he heard about global warming and habitat destruction and killed himself. Still, at least there are plenty of stuffed Knut's to remember him by. Why did the chicken cross the road? Ernest Hemingway; "To die, alone, in the rain."
Perhaps knut died of a broken heart??? Knut was raised by zookeeper Thomas Doerflein after the cub's mother rejected him. Doerflein died from a heart attack in 2008, around the same time that one of Knut's keepers warned he was becoming a "psycho" bear. Doerflein had been banned from playing with Knut because he had become an adult bear and it was too dangerous, leaving Knut sad and lonely.
knuts last moments <iframe title="YouTube video player" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/o9P_gUtZN-E" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Well, poor Knut and all, but I think the Japan situation is slightly more important. Why would the press focus on such trash right now? But then, I guess the Japan news broadcasts are absolutely over-sensationalized, too. "We can actually look into the reactor and see the nuclear fuel rods!" Ahum... a little more concern on their part, maybe?
knuts death is symbolic in that global warming is killing off our polar bears and which also ironically caused the tsunami and hence destroyed the nuke plan and is now killing people. see, its all related.
ChkitOut, you have a point there. However, knut's death seems to be because of "leaving Knut sad and lonely" as you yourself have mentioned below: As far as tsunami is concerned it was because of the "earthquake" and not due to "global warming" and has happened in the past also when earth was supposed to be cooler than now.