‘Cute Knut’ the polar bear has tills ringing in Germany

Tue Mar 27, 11:16 AM ET

Knut, the polar bear cub who survived rejection by his mother, has become a marketing phenomenon in Germany.

Thousands of extra visitors flocked to Berlin zoo at the weekend to get a glimpse of the little bear — and many took cuddly toy versions of Knut home with them.

The zoo sold 2,400 of the toys at the weekend and is rushing thousands more into production to re-stock its souvenir shop and meet orders from Austria and the United States.

German confectionery maker Haribo plans to add a new Knut-shaped design to its existing range of jelly bear sweets by the end of the week.

“We are reacting to a strong demand from parents and children,” said Haribo spokesman Marco Alfter.

And the German version of Internet auction site e-Bay had more than 200 Knut items for sale on Tuesday.

The Berlin zoo has already copyrighted the Knut name and is planning a range of further related products, but stresses that the profits will be ploughed back into animal conservation.

“The proceeds will be used for the benefit of the zoo and the protection of species,” the zoo’s marketing manager Vivian Kreft said on Tuesday.

Knut hit the headlines this month when German media whipped up an outcry after an animal activist was quoted as saying that he should have been put down after he and his brother were rejected by their mother following their birth in December.

Claims by the activist that he was misquoted have been lost in the ensuing media storm.

The marketing men, however, see one problem with the appeal of their cuddly new star: he is growing fast.

Knut currently weighs in at nine kilogrammes (19 pounds), but fully grown polar bear males can top the scales at 600 kilogrammes.

Polar bear cub Knut prompts Easter crush at Berlin zoo

Mon Apr 9, 9:36 AM ET

About 125,000 people descended on Berlin zoo over the Easter weekend to get a glimpse of Knut, the polar bear cub who has become a global sensation, the zoo said on Monday.

About 300,000 extra people have visited since the four-month-old cub, who was rejected by his mother at birth and is now being raised by a handler, first appeared in public on March 23.

Faced with the Easter crush, the zoo authorities had to set up a one-way system past Knut’s enclosure to ensure all his fans got a peek.

The 13.8-kilogram (30-pound) bear comes out into the open air twice a day, around midday and in the early afternoon, to jump on the rocks, wade through the pond and roll around to the delight of his hundreds of admirers.

Such is the global interest that the zoo has trade-marked Knut’s name for use on t-shirts, posters, postcards, sweets and toy bears. A Berlin bank is even planning to put the bear’s image on its bank cards.

Other zoos have also recorded increased visitor numbers since the Knut phenomenon began.

Meanwhile, Berlin zoo has begun separating Knut from his handler, Thomas Dorflein, who has been feeding him with a bottle. It has to be done carefully to ensure the bear is not traumatised.

Teething polar bear cub off display

Mon Apr 16, 7:54 PM ET

Knut, the Berlin Zoo’s lovable polar bear cub, was taken off display Monday because of teething pains. “He is getting his right upper canine,” zoo veterinarian Andre Schuele told The Associated Press.

Earlier, the 4 1/2-month old cub’s daily public appearance was cut short after only 30 minutes and he was put on antibiotics.

“At the moment he is resting on his blanket and sleeping,” Schuele said, adding that despite his lethargy Knut did eat his regular meal in the morning.

Thousands of people line up daily to see the cub, and his button-eyed face has been a fixture for newspapers, television and the Internet.

Born at the zoo on Dec. 5, Knut was rejected by his mother and hand-raised by zookeepers. So potent is his appeal that zoo attendance has roughly doubled to 15,000 on average daily since his debut, officials said. He has his own blog and TV show and appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair.

Schuele did not know if Knut would be strong enough for public appearances in the next days.

“We don’t know yet — the little one is not a machine,” he said.

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On the Net:

http://www.zoo-berlin.de

Berlin’s polar bear cub Knut receives death threat

By Madeline ChambersThu Apr 19, 11:20 AM ET

Germany’s celebrity polar bear cub Knut has received an anonymous death threat, causing alarm at Berlin Zoo on Thursday and prompting heightened security.

Top-selling Bild newspaper said the zoo had received a hand-written fax from a suspected animal hater with the words: “Knut is dead! Thursday midday.”

But that deadline came and went safely for media star Knut, who has been on newspaper front pages around Germany and the world for weeks. “He is safe and in good spirits,” said zoo official Ragnar Kuehne after the time had passed.

Berlin police said they had investigated a letter containing a threat but did not believe it was serious.

Berlin Zoo’s business manager Gerald Uhlich said: “They told us prominent figures often have things like this happen but in this instance we need not be too worried.”

Nonetheless, Bild said the zoo had trebled the number of minders responsible for Knut’s safety to 15.

“Death threat, police protection for Knut!” Bild wrote in bold letters on page one above a picture of the sad-looking polar bear cub peering out from behind a tree branch.

As Knut appeared for one of his public appearance on Thursday, about twelve minders in orange jackets and carrying walkie-talkies patrolled the area around his enclosure to keep a close eye on the cub and the crowd of fans.

Just an hour before the death threat expired, an unperturbed Knut rolled around on the ground with his bearded keeper Thomas Doerflein and, as usual, chewed his fingers.

Knut, who now has his own brand, won global attention after questions were raised about hand-rearing polar bears. Some animal rights campaigners were interpreted as calling for him to be put down rather than raised by humans.

Doerflein has slept in Knut’s cage, played with him and fed him porridge since the cub’s mother rejected him at birth.

The zoo has already received about six serious offers to give Knut a home when he is older, the latest from a Norwegian zoo north of the Arctic Circle.

“We are the northernmost zoo in the world so we thought, why not take the initiative to get him up here,” said Sigbjoern Soerensen, managing director of the Polar Zoo in Bardu, Norway.

Soerensen, who sent his proposal to Berlin in a letter, said the Polar Zoo had ideal conditions for Knut, with deep snow in winter and temperatures sometimes diving to -30 degrees Celsius and summer temperatures typically a cool 10-15 degrees.

Kuehne said Berlin Zoo would only consider whether to send Knut abroad in a year or so when he is old enough to breed.