Kill the Polar Bear to Save It

Captain Ed has an unbelievable story from Germany where animal rights activists are demanding that a local zoo kill a polar bear cub that was rejected by its mother rather than offer human intervention to save it:

A fluffy polar bear cub called Knut, who has become a media celebrity, should be given a lethal injection according to German zoologists, who say he has become too dependent on humans.

Their controversial claims have provoked a public outcry and a debate about the treatment of zoo animals.

The male cub is the first baby polar bear to survive in Berlin zoo for 30 years. After he was born on December 5 last year, his mother, Tosca, a grumpy 20-year-old former East German circus bear, put Knut and his brother out to die on a rock in the bear pit. Keepers scooped the cubs out of the compound with a fishing net and placed them in an incubator. ...

“Hand-feeding is not appropriate to the species and is a grave violation of the animal protection laws,” said Frank Albrecht, an animal rights campaigner. “Legally speaking, the zoo should kill the baby bear. Otherwise it is condemning the bear to a dysfunctional life and that too is a breach of the law.”

The director of Aachen zoo, Wolfram Ludwig, also believes the Berliners made the wrong decision in saving Knut: “It is not correct to bottle-feed a small polar bear. He will always be fixated on his keeper and will never grow to be a proper polar bear.” Knut, he argues, should have been killed when Tosca rejected him. “One should have had the courage to kill him much earlier.”

Perhaps a little psychological counseling will solve the problem - not for the bear, but for the activists. Given that the bear doesn't know how it is supposed to live (at least as approved by the activists), I doubt that keeping the little guy alive poses much of a threat to his self-esteem.