Zoo's starving polar bear cubs eaten by mother, keepers report

[kskiska]

Source: The Guardian

A zoo in southern Germany, which wanted to avoid a sequel to "Knut mania", has been criticised for refusing to intervene to save two polar bear cubs which now appear to have been eaten by their mother.

Nuremberg zoo, in Bavaria, ignored calls to rear the vulnerable cubs by hand as Berlin zoo famously did a year ago with the cub Knut, the zoo chiefs deciding that "nature should take its course" with the babies born to Vilma five weeks ago.

"We wanted to avoid a repeat of the stupid Knut mania and not rear the animal by hand," said Helmut Mägdefrau, deputy director of Nuremberg zoo.

(snip)

The attention is now on the polar bear Vera, who has also had a cub. Reacting to the public outcry, Nuremberg's mayor, Horst Förther, said: "I don't know whether we could face losing another polar bear." Yesterday the zoo relented, and said it would be rearing Vera's cub by hand.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/germany/article/0,,2237483,00.html

[mitchum]

1. Gotta love the dark irony: "the zoo chiefs deciding that nature should take its course"

[Lone_Star_Dem]

20. Don't you know it

I bet Vilma is wishing they'd practiced what they're preaching where she's concerned.

[MilesColtrane]

2. You'd think that Germans would have disavowed the whole "survival of the fittest" thing. n/t

[Purveyor]

7. Of course...only the vile "Germans" have that trait, eh? eom

[MilesColtrane]

10. Hope you didn't break a leg on that leap.

I've known for quite some time that fascists can bloom under every flag.

At least we didn't invade Poland.

[Robb]

17. Yet. Give us time. nt

[oldleftguy]

3. They were just following orders!

[Mojorabbit]

4. I wonder if they

watched to see if Vera was nursing before they yanked the cub. What a shame they let the other two cubs die.

[MidwestTransplant]

5. Hey moron, when they are in the Zoo, nature no longer has any role.

[nosmokes]

6. WTF is this *let Nature take it's course* philosophy doing in a zoo?

people can't intervene because that wouldn't happen in the wild? News Flash for the brain damaged prick w/ ears that was in charge: A Bavarian zoo is hardly the natural habitat for the polar bear. What a maroon.

[LeftyMom]

8. Jackasses. Once the animals are in your care (or "care" in their case) you're responsible for them.

Which means that if Mom won't feed them, you're going to have to. Even if it's a goddamn media circus.

For that matter, if you don't want the hoopla, minimize press access and don't release a zillion cutesy pictures. Problem solved.

[and-justice-for-all]

9. What fucking pieces of shit! nt

[BlueIris]

12. Yeah.

I was trying to come up with something more eloquent, but...yeah.

[orleans]

11. maybe someone intervened and rescued the cubs from this fucking zoo

Despite knowing that Vilma was not feeding her young, Nuremberg zoo did not intervene. On Monday the keepers realised the cubs were gone. "We could not find the remains of the little ones, so we cannot determine the cause of death," Mägdefrau said. "We're very sad." He said Vilma could have seen her babies die or killed them because they were sick.

Politicians and animal rights activists accused the zoo of neglect. "You cannot just dump them in an artificial environment then treat them as if they're living in the wild," said Berthold Merkel, president of Bavaria's Animal Protection Association.

A year ago an activist sparked an outcry by suggesting the rejected Knut should have been left to die. But others said it was nonsense for a zoo to treat captive creatures as if they were living free.

[xchrom]

13. fuckin idiots -- knut mania was such a problem?

i bet that zoo made a ton of money because it saved that cub.

and missed the opportunity to act humanely and make some money for the animals in your care.

which brings me to the last point -- you should all be fired.

[cornermouse]

14. Fire the dirt bags.

I don't know what they were thinking of.

[Ian David]

15. But providing the bear with fava beans and a nice chianti, was going a bit too far. n/t

[bigworld]

18. Chianti doesn't go with polar bear.

You peasant.

[AnneD]

21. A nice...

Riesling perhaps?

[annabanana]

16. With Polar Bears ~thisclose~ to being added to the

"threatened" list, how the hell does Helmut Mägdefrau get to let cubs just get eaten?

[Arkansas Granny]

19. Here's another article with some more info on the other cub which

will be raised by hand. Seems that the mother was doing a good job with the cub until a cameraman climbed the fence surrounding her enclosure and disturbed her.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i26YSrioqHf1q-seU1ErRJ9DTxQA

[Javaman]

22. polar bears are SOYLENT......green....

Okay, bad joke this time around...

[beastofbourbon]

23. Do they deliver Internationally ? I would try it , broiled and with a nice full bodied Port

and I would have a small side of snap beans............baked potato, butter .

It would seem to me that even though they're taken from the wild , that the "nature takes it's course" way would still be the most humane , unless they were an endangered animal....we know that nature is not always pretty .