Crazy over Knut (and not in a good way)

Remember Knut? This is what he used to look like, all dinky and diddy. He was rejected by his mama bear and left to fend for himself, so staff at Berlin Zoo where he lived decided to hand raise him. This sparked off a big old debate about whether they should have put him down instead, but then all the photos of baby Knut rolling around with a loo brush and a football won over everyone and he was allowed to live. The killer combo of adorable baby bear and polar-bear-as-symbol-of-climate change saved his life.

But now Knut has betrayed everyone and got all grown up and ugly and crazy. Shocker! Baby bear grows up. And now apparently, accordingly to a slightly over the top the piece in BBC News, he’s killing carp ‘for fun’. Evil bear! The Frankfurter Allgemeine news website reports that Knut “senselessly murdered the carp”, fishing them out, playing with them and then leaving the remains. No! And all because Knut is being eclipsed in the popularity stakes by new kid on the block Flocke. He’s clearly jealous! Now, I like polar bears as much as the next person and I like baby animals. But even though these bears are captive in a zoo we should not forget that they are WILD animals and not jealous human beings. Anthropomorphism is an easy trap to fall into at the best of times, but surely it’s gone a smidge too far here...?