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"Knut is sharing his quarters with another polar bear named Giovanna, who is his cousin," states PETA on its Web site, adding that Knut and Giovanna (whose nickname is Gianna) share the same grandfather. To avoid any possibility that the pair will mate and produce inbred offspring, PETA's Germany chapter is demanding that Knut be castrated.
"If Knut and Giovanna were to have any offspring, it could threaten the genetic diversity of Germany's polar bear population, and the new bears could be susceptible to a condition known as 'incest depression,'" says PETA, citing expert Frank Albrecht.
For all his celebrity -- he was photographed for Vanity Fair by Annie Leibovitz, for example -- Knut has had a tough life. First, his mother -- a retired circus animal, according to People -- rejected Knut and his twin brother after giving birth in December 2006. Then Knut's twin brother died of a fungal infection. Knut was left alone to be hand-raised by humans. He managed to form an attachment to his devoted trainer, Thomas Dörflein, only to have Dörflein suddenly die in 2008.
Throughout it all, Knut remained a worldwide sensation, celebrated as the first polar bear born at the Berlin Zoo in 33 years. Hundreds of thousands of fans, reporters and news crews poured into the zoo to get a glimpse of Knut and to buy t-shirts, candy and DVDs bearing his image.
It will, therefore, be a relief to his fans to learn Knut is unlikely to neutered. News reports, such as an article in the London Times notes that Knut and Gianna are not sexually mature and so pregnancy is not an immediate concern. And, reports ABC News, Berlin Zoo's bear expert, Heiner Klös, who didn't even deign to comment on PETA's demand, says: "We've always said Giovanna will only stay here until her enclosure is ready in Munich," Klös tells ABC News. "She is due to return home in the summer."
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Leave the animal kingdom alone, they been doing that for years.
So rather that just calling for the simple separation of the two, PETA decides to endanger the polar bear population by removing Knut's ability to reproduce completely?
How's that "ethical treatment of animals"?
I generally have nothing against PETA. Even celebrate what they USED to be. But they stupid? Who's running that organization?
It is not "incest depression" as PETA seems to think, but "inbreeding depression". If they are going to attempt to use science, they need to get the terms right.
Maybe we should just castrate the members of PETA, they are not inbred (I think) but their stupidity should not be passed on to future generations
" hurt the polar bear population" in germany??> PEOPLE!! THERE IS NO POLAR BEAR POPULATION IN GERMANY!!! never has been. Go NORTH to find wild polar bears!!
Once again, PETAheads show just how stupid they really are.
What difference does it make......Zoo animals have no life at all to speak of anyway.....just kill all the bear babys....that would be more humane than letting them die a slow agonizing death of shear boredom in a cell instead of enjoying freedom in the wild.......living free would be better than a cage, no matter how long fate allowed them to live.......I hate zoo's......I'm a 60 year old man.....brings tears to my eye's everytime I see a beautiful animal, caged, pacing back & forth....slowly losing his mind.....!!
Jim, I don't disagree with you but you must understand that there are some animals that wouldn't survive if released in the wild. I think Knut is one of them. For lack of a better term, Knut has been "civilized" and would be mauled and bullied by other polar bears if released. Als, I dount he will know where or how to look for food.
Babypolar......it's kind of a given that Knut and all animals that are raised in captivity will never be able to fend for themselves if reintroduced into their natural habitat.....that's kind of my point.....look how it destroys their will & ability to live.....It's like PETA saying "why can't hunters just go out and photograph deer & elk & bear...etc.....I say instead of torturing animals for years in cages.....pacing back & forth back & forth......slowly going out of their minds......put up a huge beautiful picture of them for "the kiddy's" to look....and if these "so called "animal lover, zoo keepers" are trying to justify caging these animals to "protect their species"....I say to you...that's bull chit.....take some DNA samples of all these animals now and store it cryrogenically....and quit abusing what we have left.....!!!
WHY KNUT, WHY NOT STERLIZE THE FEMALE. IF THE ZOO WANTS TO MATCH HIM UP WITH ANOTHER FEMALE IN THE FUTURE THERE WILL BE NO LITTLE KNUTS RUNNING AROUND. I BELIEVE THE ZOO OFFICALS SHOULD RECONSIDER AND FIND ANOTHER SOLUTION. I HOPE THEY DO! PETA SHOULD KEEP THEIR STUCK UP NOSES OUT OF KNUTS BUSINESS.
I say we CASTRATE PETA 1st, then we let good ol' KNUT have
his way w/ PETA !
KUDOS! PETA is a terrorist organization and should be disbanded....
Is this Mr Albercht an expert on bears? what's his training. his experience working with bears? Does he go around checking to see if bears in the wide ONLY mate with non realtives? IN the wild animals will mate with who ever is handy with very few problems. Incest is a condition of PEOPLE, not animals.
If peta is so concerned with the bears, let them use some of their MILLIONS to buid a new enclousure for the two Polar Bears, should cost them too much
Knut to be castrated? MY question is this, IF the polar bear population is facing extinction both in the wild and in captivity, Then why on this earth would we tamper with the ability to reproduce .... Either the female or the male such as knut... I understand deformaties and dna, IF the two polar bears are able to bear offspring and the off spring are in danger of deformaties, Then separate the two animals perminately and place them both with a mate that they can reproduce with.. and help the to achieve a baby bear that is healthy, and instead of humans raising that bear by hand... help them to be introduced into the elements that are a true bears perminate home....as soon as it is able to care for itself.... Zoo's are Good to help animals to survive and reproduce, However due to thier captivity it does make it a little more difficult to help the offspring to go back to thier natural habitats and survive.. We as human beings must do our absolute best to save the lands, that we live and survive on, and we also need to protect and to provide and care for the other life that exists on this planet.. We alllllllllllll need to stop taking everything for our own selfish purposes.I beg all human beings to stop and think before cutting down trees, taking up new land, hunting and killing for sport and trophy... INstead let us all pull together to find and provide for all life on this planet without destroying and consuming all of its natural Gifts, Such as gas,oil, coal, animals, land, plants, atmosphere, Water... without all of this and more, NONE OF US WILL SURVIVE, NOR WILL WE THRIVE... AND WE WILL THEN BE ON THE EXTINCTION LIST... STEP UP AND BE CASTRATED..... THAT WILL FIX IT.(not in my book it wont)
God bless all here on plant earth, and may all beings, short and tall, furry and not learn to live with one another and be grateful for the gifts of knowledge and love that are recieved.
Amen- HOWL
Why is it the male of the species that has to suffer the indignity in order to "save" the breed? Why doesn't PETA keep out of the polar bears bedroom or wherever it is they do their lovemaking.
Dottie---
incest is not just a people thing. Animals can just as easily engage in incest.
I am an animla rights activist---but i think calling for the castration of knut is just plain STUPID. Polar bears are on the verge of extinction. How in the hell could we ever justify doing that?!?
PETA's ultimate goal is NO MORE PETS in anyone's home. All animals roaming wild, including livestock. No more meat or eggs in your diet. They are radical and have produced terrible color books for children, such as "your Mommy Kills Animals", with a picture of a maddened "mommy" on the front with a knife and blood all over. In NYC last year they set up a table outside the Westminster Kennel Club show and dressed as the KKK, trying to interest people in their warped way of thinking. Be very wary of any animal "rights" groups. The groups that care are the animal "welfare" groups!
I think they ought to fix all PETA people. Who's to say that polar bears don't inbreed in nature. Incest depression for animals? What will they make up next?
If you have a problem with PETA's stupidity, please say something about it on their blog! They are never going to see the light if the light isn't shone directly into their faces, as it obviously needs to be. I'm not saying they don't stand for something good, they have saved the lives of many animals, including many of my horses, and I'm very thankful for that. But they need to figure out where the line between 'effective' and 'just causing trouble' is. If you click on the PETA link above (embedded in the words "PETA on its website") it takes you directly to the PETA article on the topic. Does it strike you as odd that all comments made must be approved by the site master? Hmmm... I'm 18 and I can see that this is fishy.
Castrating Knut would make him unbearable!