It's Knut mania as polar delights the crowds at first public appearance - Update

Knut the baby polar bear made his first appearance before cheering schoolchildren yesterday ... and did not disappoint.

The 15-week-old creature at the centre of a debate over whether he should live or die emerged blinking into the great outdoors at Berlin Zoo.



He delighted the crowd by clambering over a log and sniffing curiously at the legs of his handler, Thomas Doerflein, who feeds him three times a day with a bottle.

"We want Knut! We want Knut!" chanted a group of youngsters allowed in after protesting against demands by animal rights activists that the bear should be given a lethal injection rather than be subjected to the indignity of life as a domesticated animal.

Zoo chiefs have already made it clear there is no question of 20lb Knut, who was rejected by his mother at birth, being put down.

Here's a video of Knut's first public appearance and a gallery of photos.