How on earth did I miss this story: “Zookeeper who reared Knut found dead.”
It’s the saddest story.
THE zookeeper who hand-reared Knut the polar bear at Berlin Zoo has been found dead at his home.
Thomas Doerflein, 44, was found dead on Monday. Authorities have yet to rule on the cause of death, but a police spokesman said there was no reason to suspect suicide or foul play.
Berlin Zoo confirmed Mr Doerflein was still employed but would not comment on reports that t he had been suffering from a serious illness.
Even here, in the realm of Knut’s fame, happiness cannot be found.
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The fact that he raised that bear to be a deranged sociopath doesn’t change the story at all?
Heart attack. The autopsy was last week.
Beloved Mr. Doerflein was a devoted “human parent” to precious Knut, who loves his fans very much. He waves back and forth to them and shows off for them and of late, he even plays ball with them by tossing the ball into the crowd (recently right into the arms of an adoring fan) and it was thrown back to Knut who appeared to attempt to catch it. I think he takes after his circus star prima donna mom, Tosca. I love Knut so very much and he is loved by many thousands all over the world. He is so well loved and highly regarded that Mercedes Benz came out with a Knuddle Knut keychain as an accessory to their high end truck line. I hope he lives a happy healthy life and receives lots and lots of love and nurturing. He is such a bundle of joy. It has been found that bears are as intelligent as the great apes and emotionally complex and sensitive. It doesn’t surprise me at all after watching precious Knut’s clever antics on YOUTUBE and in his WEBSHOTS albums by his numerous photo aunties, especially the very talented Christina Berlin. Knut rules. I have no ambition nor business sense so I have offered my art on WEBSHOTS (karenvstefanini) for fundraising, especially for bear protection groups.
Maybe he had bi-polar bear depression?
I have a fantastic Knut shirt I got at the Berlin Zoo. It says ‘Mir geht’s Knut’ on it.
the article says:
“Knut has since been diagnosed as a publicity-addicted “psycho bear”. Animal psychiatrists have called for him to be weaned from the spotlight.”
The problem is that he spent so much time with Doerflein that he became habituated to that level and type of social interaction. My understanding is that finally, they were forced to separate because authorities concluded that Doerflein was likely to be seriously injured with the kind of play they were doing and since polar bears are solitary animals, they used that phsycological bench mark to analyse Knut and easily declared him “psycho”. Maybe it went a little both ways and Doerflein became habituated to Knut and died of heartache, like a parent attached to a child is has kept alive by spoon feeding through 150 days on the edge of death.
(why did I post this…?)
There’s a reason why bears are on Colbert’s threatdown.
@6,
A publicity addicted psycho bear, huh? How long before a paparazzo releases a sex tape?