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by winecountrydog
Celebrity polar bear Knut of Zoo Berlin has lost his foster father, zookeeper Thomas Dörflein.
The 44-year old zookeeper, who became known worldwide as Knut's surrogate father after the baby cub's own mother, Tosca, rejected him, was found dead in his Berlin apartment.
It's hard to imagine what confusion and grief Knut will feel about the disappearance of his human "dad." Knut was so bonded to Dörflein — as you can see in "Knut goes exploring" ("auf Entdeckungstour") from ballynow.
When Knut's mother rejected him after his December 2006 birth, Dörflein stayed with der kleine Eisbär, baby Knut, around the clock for 150 straight days. Daddy Dörflein handfed him milk and porridge throughout the nights and days, and played with and cared for him.
Mourners visiting Zoo Berlin have left a white rose and a letter of condolence on the fence of Knut's enclosure.
Knut looks pensive now. He has certainly gone through a lot in his short life.
As a tiny cub, Knut's life was almost cut short by humans who protested the idea of the zoo handraising him. There were some who said that Knut should have been euthanized rather than being raised "as a domestic pet." Some protestors accused Zoo Berlin of violating animal protection legislation by keeping Knut alive.
I don't think there was any perfect solution. My response is to bark the slogan on the German stamp that bears beautiful Knut's image:
Natur weltweit bewahren. Preserve nature worldwide!
By pawlitico
"Your Car Is Your Cage" is a sign at the entrance of Great Bear Adventure near Glacier National Park, Montana.
The thought of automobiles as human cages gives me a strange feeling. I don't like cages. You know that I, as a Humane California dog, growl at the fact that factory farms keep "food animals" caged. "Factory" chickens, veal calves, and pigs live all their lives in cruel confinement.
When I saw the "Your Car Is Your Cage" sign, it made me wonder whether humans have gotten used to cages. A lot of humans talk about feeling like caged animals, and about being caged up in work cubicles. It seems that, when humans aren't in one cage, they're in another. Is this why not enough humans realize that animals feel awful about being trapped in tiny spaces? I don't know. I'm just a corgi.
I think bears are pretty exciting. They sure have a hard time nowadays finding places to live safely 'cuz they freak people out.
Dog-ma told me about bears in the Trinity Alps wilderness that she ran into. She said she wouldn't have been afraid of them if other humans hadn't been tormenting them with buckshot.
What happens is that many humans who live or camp in remote areas shoot at the bears, or at least scare them badly, to try to make them go away. Humans get especially aggressive when they're trying to keep bears away from their food. But once bears get a taste for "leftovers," they keep coming back. So humans shoot more. The bears end up feeling angry — not to mention hurt and in pain. Then the bears start hating humans.
What a "great bear adventure" this is, right?
In Montana, Great Bear Adventure is a place for humans to see grizzly bears, also known as brown bears, from the safety of their car cages.
There's great bear info at Great Bear Foundation. You can learn about grizzlies and the seven other bear species of the world at their Bear Species link.
Bears are wonderful animals. As the Great Bear Foundation people say, "It is possible for bears and humans to successfully coexist, but now it is the responsibility of humans to adapt and learn about ways to live with bears."
I just want to acknowledge this, and to remind humans to be kind to wild animals, not only to us companion animals.
