German zoo prepared to let its polar bear cubs die

While Berlin Zoo is busy negotiating a Hollywood deal for its hand-reared celebrity Knut, Nuremberg Zoo is determined to avoid "Knutomania" for its newborn polar bears. It is even prepared to let them die in a strict hands-off policy.

Two polar bears have given birth to an unknown number of cubs in the southern German city of Nuremberg, but the zoo is determined to avoid what it calls "Knutomania" and is prepared to let the cubs die rather than hand-rear them should the mothers reject them.

"Vera" and "Wilma", two young polar bear females, gave birth three weeks and five weeks ago respectively, and Vera occasionally strolls out of her cave, sparking concern in the local media that she might not be showing enough interest in her offspring.



But Nuremberg's deputy director Helmut Mägdefrau said that the cubs will not be hand-reared like Knut, who was bottle-fed from birth in Berlin Zoo after his aging mother Tosca, 21, showed no interest in him.

"If something goes wrong, it goes wrong", said Mägdefrau. "If you don't let the mothers practice, they'll never learn how to bring up their cubs. We have two young mothers here and if something goes wrong they'll always have other opportunities."

Mägdefrau said it was unclear how many cubs had been born and that the first check would take place in a few weeks' time.