Little chance of love for Knut
2007-11-22 10:16
Berlin - Germany's celebrity polar
bear Knut will have to leave home to find love, Berlin Zoo
officials said on Wednesday.
Though polar bears are loners, Knut will need to be among
other bears to mate once he turns three or four years old,
spokesperson Ragnar Kuehne said, and his pool of potential mates in
Berlin is too old to have an eye for the adolescent Knut.
"If he were to get together with a big, old bear she
wouldn't be interested in him," Kuehne said.
As Knut approaches his first birthday on December 5, Kuehne
scotched rumours that the zoo's most famous resident would be
moved to the capital's other zoo in the East.
Knut will stay at Berlin Zoo for now but could be moved to a
new home outside Berlin in about a year, Kuehne said.
"I can't say today for certain that he'll go to somewhere
else, but it's likely," Kuehne said, adding that numerous zoos
have expressed interest in Knut.
Global star
Berlin Zoo already has five polar bears, including Knut's
father, Lars.
The Friedrichsfelde zoo in the former communist
East has just two polar bears, including a mature male named
Troll.
Knut became a star and a global brand after his mother,
Tosca, rejected him after birth and an animal rights campaigner
criticised the zoo's decision to rear him by hand.
German media
interpreted the comments as a call for Knut to be put down.
Breathless media reports followed Knut's growth from a ball
of fluff to more than 100 kg, documenting the bear's
reactions to the changing seasons and new zoo rules that
prohibit keeper Thomas Doerflein from wrestling with the cub, as
he did when Knut was smaller.
Zoo officials estimate about 3 million people will visit
Knut this year, a 20% increase in zoo attendance from
last year.
Knut also has his own song, DVD and a book deal and appears
in merchandise from plush toys to T-shirts.