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Posted On: January 6th 2008
Posted By: Adam Coozer
Source: The Guardian |
I don't care if "this would happen in nature anyway" - it's still cruel and messed up. Humans have the power to intervene when nature makes a mistake.
Zoo leaves polar bear cubs to starve
Three tiny polar bear cubs are being allowed to starve to death after a zoo took the controversial decision not to rear them by hand if their mother continued to neglect them.
Mother bears Vera and Wilma gave birth three weeks and five weeks ago at Nuremberg Zoo in southern Germany. It is thought they have six cubs between them. Wilma is displaying the signs of being a good mother, but Vera shows no interest in her young.
She frequently strolls out of her cave, where the hungry cries of her babies can be heard from within, and she lazes for hours outside her lair.
It was just such neglect from his mother that propelled a cub called Knut to international fame at another German zoo last year. Abandoned by his mother at birth, animal rights activists said he should die rather than be raised by humans.
Berlin Zoo officials disagreed and Knut became a sensation. He has been on the cover of Vanity Fair magazine and a Hollywood film company is negotiating the rights to his story.
Nuremberg, however, is taking a hard line on Vera's cubs. As people bombard the zoo with demands that keepers intervene unless Vera's mothering skills pick up, deputy director Helmut Maegdefrau says he wants 'no Knutmania' at the zoo.
Read the full article here. |
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