Flocke makes public debut
2008-04-08 18:18
Nuremburg - With all the fanfare of a movie premiere or record release, Nuremberg city and zoo officials introduced Germany's latest winsome polar bear cub to a public eager for its first live glimpse of her on Tuesday.
The furry 4-month-old imp has been tugging at their heartstrings by videos and photographs since her birth.
"Not only Nuremberg, but the whole world has been in Flocke fever," said the city's deputy mayor Horst Foerther.
He said the cub has attracted millions of hits on Google since the zoo decided to raise her by hand in January.
Flocke more cute than Knut
Flocke, who was born on December 11 and then rejected by her mother, made her public debut before television cameras at the Nuremberg zoo just as interest in the Berlin zoo's now fully grown polar bear sensation, Knut, seemed to be waning.
Knut went from roly-poly and cute to chunky and a little dangerous.
Flocke - German for "Flake," as in snowflake - was taken from her mother, Vera, on January 8 for hand-rearing after Vera was seen tossing the cub around her enclosure.
The zoo was worried that Vera could harm or even kill the newborn.
Now about 19 kilograms, Flocke has been romping around in a private enclosure but will be put on public display on Wednesday.
Flocke shows climate obligation
Zoo director Dag Encke thanked people on Tuesday for their interest in the cute cub, but implored them to use the interest in Flocke to force action on climate change, which was affecting the habitat of wild polar bears.
In that sense, Encke said at a nationally televised news conference with some 430 reporters, "Flocke is no more a polar bear, but Flocke is not a person - Flocke is an obligation, or a window into an obligation," he said.
- AP