Abandened Polar Bear Cub to be Killed!

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What would you do in this situation? (3 photos below & my comment) HE'S cute, he's cuddly, and according to some animal rights activist Knut the baby polar bear should die. The three-month-old cub is at the centre of a media storm in Germany, with debate raging over the role of zoos and the "humanising" of wild animals. The bear was saved and hand-reared by a keeper at Berlin Zoo after being rejected and left to die by its mother. But animal rights campaigners have argued the zoo's actions will humanise the bear too much and want it to stop saving young animals."Hand-rearing a polar bear is not appropriate and is a serious violation of animal rights," the Bild newspaper quoted animal rights campaigner Frank Albrecht as saying."In fact, the cub should have been killed."However, Berlin Zoo said the animal would not be put down or left to fend for itself: "That's complete nonsense," a spokesman said. Knut has become an unofficial Berlin city mascot and has even had his picture taken by photographer Annie Leibovitz as part of a new climate change campaign. His fate has gripped the German capital since his birth in December. Knut's mother Tosca - formerly a performing animal in an East German zoo - rejected Knut and his twin brother shortly after their birth. The twin died, but Knut was "adopted" by zookeeper Thomas Doerflein. The polar bear is bottle-fed, washed and cuddled by his adoptive father, who moved in to the zoo to sleep in a bed by the bear´s crate. Newspapers have reported that Mr Doerflein plays him Elvis songs on the guitar and gave him Christmas presents. With debate raging, the director of Aachen zoo, Wolfram Ludwig, stepped into the row, saying he also believed 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," he said. Knut, he said, should have been killed when Tosca rejected him. "One should have had the courage to kill him much earlier."Leipzig zoo showed the way last December by injecting a rejected baby sloth with T61, a poison that kills in two seconds. The argument used by Leipzig and specialists such as Rödiger Schmiedel, the head of Germany’s Bear Foundation, is that it is impossible to domesticate a wild animal so it is better not to start. But the "save Knut" looks set to win the day. The cub is due to be presented to the public this week after reaching the critical weight of 8kg, at which he is deemed strong enough to face TV cameras. It will then be even harder to dispatch him quietly with a T61 jab. "The humanisation of this bear has to stop as soon as possible," said Wolfgang Apel, the head of the German animal protection league, "but he has a right to live." With Reuters and The Times of London