Last chance to see Mercedes at Edinburgh Zoo…

“Work has almost finished on the enclosure and Mercedes will remain at Edinburgh Zoo until Sunday 18 October, so if you want to see her before the move, please do visit. She will then be off-show for around 2-3 weeks as she prepares for her move and we give her time to settle into her new home.”

This message arrived 2 days ago from Edinburgh Zoo and so it’s time to dedicate Mercedes the entry which was supposed to have been posted here already for some months…

Nun steht es fest, vor wenigenen Tagen kam die Meldung herein, nur noch bis zum 18.10. , also morgen, kann Mercedes in ihrem angestammten Zoo in Edinburgh besucht werden, dann zieht sie um in das weitaus größere Gelände in den Highland Wildlife Park…Zeit Mercedes den Eintrag zu widmen, der schon seit Monaten wartet…

Von Mercedes hörte ich Ende Februar zum ersten Mal, als ihr Umzug angekündigt wurde. Als ich herausfand, dass ihr Umzug nicht vor September stattfinden würde, erkundete ich erst mal ihr Umfeld, denn bis dato hatte ich auch nicht gewusst, dass es außer Mercedes gar keine Eisbären mehr in britischen Zoos gab, aber dazu an anderer Stelle mehr. Zwischenzeitlich gab es in anderen Foren ebenfalls Nachrichten zu ihrem geplanten Umzug, wie z.B. den Artikel, den Ralf in KWM gepostet hat. Hier nun zum aktuellen Anlass eine etwas freie Übersetzung des Artikels mit ein paar eingebauten Zusatzinformationen, denn Mercedes Geschichte hat es in sich, selbst Rosamunde Pilcher würde hier noch Stoff finden…-

I came across Mercedes by the end of February, when her relocation was announced. When I learned that moving her to the Highlands wouldn’t take place before September, I started exploring and digging the field first, as I wanted to get to know her and her past better. I have to admitthat before, I didn’t even know that Mercedes has been the only polar bear so far still living in a British zoo, but I will come to this later in another posting. Later then her relocation made headlines in some other forums as for example Ralph’s article on KWM. Due to the occasion here now a sort of free style summary including some added facts, as Mercedes’ story contains really all ingredients which not even Rosamunde Pilcher couldn’t have made up better…

Mercedes, wie gesagt, einzig noch in einem britischen Zoo lebende Eisbärin, kam 1984 nach Edinburgh. Als sie 3 Jahre alt war, wurde sie in Churchill/Manitoba gefangen, nachdem sie in der Stadt auf Futtersuche war. Wie soviele Eisbären, die auf das Zufrieren der Hudon Bay warten, zog es auch sie in die Nähe von Menschen auf der Suche nach Essen. Seit 1980 ist es üblich, diese Bären in das Bärengefängnis zu stecken, – wo man ihnen lediglich Wasser und Eis gibt, um sie davon abzubringen, Nahrung mit Menschenansiedlungen in Verbindung zu bringen-, und sie dann weiter weg zu bringen.-

Mercedes, the only polar bear in a UK zoo, has been in Edinburgh since 1984. She was a three-year-old adolescent when she was captured in Churchill, Manitoba, 25 years ago, where she had been foraging for food. Common practice since 1980 in order to discourage bears from coming too close to settlements while waiting for the Hudson Bay to freeze, has been to put them into the bear jail without any food and bring them out of town then.

- Not Mercedes but found in an article about Mercedes…-

Wird ein Bär gefangen, wird ihm eine Markierung aufs Fell gemalt, zwecks Identifizierung von ‘Wiederholungstätern’. Im Falle von Mercedes war es die Zahl “39″. Da sie als ein Problembär eingestuft wurde mit nur geringer Aussicht auf Verhaltensänderung und zu gefährlich für die Menschen in Churchill, wurde bei ihrem dritten Besuch beschlossen, sie zu erschießen. Mit Hilfe von verwandschaftlichen Beziehungen zum damaligen Minister für Fischerei in Kanada, konnte durch ein Mitglied der Königlich Zoologischen Gesellschaft von Schottland, Eignerin des Zoos in Edinburgh und gemeinnützig, Mercedes dieses Schicksal erspart und eine neue Heimat gefunden werden. Hier kommt dann auch der Autohersteller Mercedes ins Spiel, die dankenswerterweise die Kosten für ihren Transport nach Schottland gesponsort haben, daher auch Mercedes Name.

I nitially, when Mercedes was captured, the number ‘39’ was painted on her coat which allowed her to be tracked. On her third visit the decision was made to shoot her, as she was considered as a problem bear, not going to change her behaviour. Luckily, one of the Society’s life members enlisted the help of her cousin, a former Minister of Fisheries in Canada, who helped RZSS (Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, the non-profit organisation which owns Edinburgh Zoo) save her and provide a new home. Mercedes, the car company, assisted with the costs of her transport, hence her name.

Bei Mercedes Ankunft in Edinburgh wurde sie mit dem damals 8 jährigen Barney zusammengebracht, einem Eisbärenmann aus Whipsnade, von dem ich leider kein einziges Foto finden konnte. Tragischerweise erstickte Barney im Januar 1996 nachdem er ein Kinderplastikspielzeug im Graben geschluckt hatte.

When Mercedes arrived in Edinburgh, she was paired with Barney, a male polar bear at age 8 then, who came originally from Whipsnade.Unfortuantely I couldn’t find a single photo of him. Tragically Barney, suffocated in January 1996 when he swallowed a child’s plastic toy in the moat.

Zusammen hatten sie zwei Junge, To-Nuik, ein männliches Jungtier geboren im November 1988 und Ohoto, ein weibliches Jungtier geboren am 15.11.91. Hier sind die einzigen Fotos , die ich finden konnte von Mercedes mit To-Nuik, mit Ohoto war ich ganz glücklos. Es ist sehr schwer, mehr über ihren Nachwuchs herauszubekommen. To-Nuik kam bereits am 27.03. 1990 nach Antwerpen und starb dort jung am 17.06.1994. Immer wieder wird darauf aufmerksam gemacht, dass To-Nuik Werbung für Fox Glacier’s Mints gemacht hat. Leider finden sich darüber ebenfalls keine Details. Ohoto kam 1993 nach Wakayama in Japan, wo sie vermutlich bis mindestens 1996 geblieben ist, danach verliert sich die Spur.

The pair had two cubs, one definetely dead. It was To-Nuik, a little male cub born in November 1988and said to have been “Minty”, the mascot for Fox’s Glacier Mints.Alreadz in March 1990 he came to Antwerpen and died there early at age 4.(Please read the paragraph underneath)

As to Ohoto, To-Nuik’s little sister born in November 1991, she was shipped to Wakayama in Japan in 1993, where she probably had stayed until 1996, after that no more traces to be found...

“The most famous cub produced at Edinburgh was Minty. Born in 1989 Minty was exploited as the mascot of Fox’s Glacier Mints. In 1990 after the publicity died down Minty was quietly shipped off to Antwerp Zoo where he shared a dilapidated Victorian concrete enclosure with four other demented polar bears. By the time I visited Antwerp Zoo in 1993 Minty was showing all the signs of stereotypic behaviour. After we challenged him Frederic Daman, Director of Antwerp Zoo, admitted that Minty was “….. showing serious signs of head swinging and stereotypical behaviour. The behaviour results from a form of stress ….”. Minty died in Antwerp Zoo on 17/6/1994. All 18 cubs bred at and exported from Edinburgh Zoo are dead.“

(Animal Concern & Scotsmen, please note that there are people around who believe strongly that Mercedes had more cubs, but until now I haven’t come across of confirming material.)

Seit Barneys Tod war Mercedes Edinburghs einziger Eisbär, eine Tatsache, die neben dem Zustand der britischen Eisbären zu manch erhitzter Debatte führte. Während der Zoo immer davon ausging, dass es Mercedes trotz der eingeschränkten und veralteten viktorianischen Anlage gut ging, war die öffentliche Wahrnehmung eine andere, Mercedes nicht stimulierende Unterbringung sowie die gesamte Eisbärenhaltung in Großbritanien galten als obsolet, Erweiterungspläne um weiter zu züchten wurden bekämpft. Nach Mercedes sollte es keine weiteren Eisbären mehr in britischen Zoos geben.

Since Barney’s death, Mercedes has been Edinburgh’s only polar bear – beside the condition all British polar bears had been in, there had been lots of heated discussions in the past about keeping Mercedes in Edinburgh. While the zoo’s perception had always been positive about her well being and the state and dimension of her enclosure, public perception had always been that they would like to see her in a larger enclosure. Her former Victorian style home was considered at not at all adequate and her renovated one too small. Mercedes became a symbol of a sad and lonely bear being kept in an unstimulating place. The keeping of polar bears in general within the UK was supposed to end with Mercedes.

Groß war also die Überraschung als Ende Februar diesen Jahres, in welchem sich auch der 100. Geburtstag der Gründungsorganisation jährt, der Zoo den Umzug von Mercedes in die Highlands ankündigte. Hier im Highland Wildlife Park entsteht nun das größte Gelände für Eisbären in Europa. Mercedes neue Heimat umfasst einen natürlichen Pool in einem mehr als 4 Hektar großen tundraähnlichen Gelände. Besucher sollen Mercedes von einer großen auf einem Hügel gelegenen Aussichtsplattform aus beobachten können. Das gesamte Projekt belief sich auf £ 300.000, für die über Fundraising und Spendenaufrufe gesammelt wurde. Durch den kostenlosen Einsatz der Armee (!!!) und ihrer Maschinen konten die Kosten auf £ 75.000 gesenkt werden.

Die Royal Zoological Society of Scotland ist eine der führenden karitativen Schottland für die Erhaltung bedrohter Arten und ihrer Lebensräume, deren Arbeit u.a. Programme zur Züchtung und Forschungsprojekte zur Erhaltung bedrohter Arten beinhaltet, sowohl in Schottland als auch weltweit. Angesichts der Größe des Geländes darf man gespannt sein, ob es doch noch einen Kurswechsel gibt, und Großbritanien langfristig Eisbärenhaltung wieder aufnimmt.

Big was the surprise when Mercedes relocation to the Highland Wildlife Park was announced in February for this year which marks as well the Royal Society’s centenary year. Here in the Highlands Mercedes home will be a 4 hectar tundra like enclosure including a natural pool, visitors will have the opportunity to see Mercedes from a higher located platform. The costs of £ 300.000 were raised by fundraising and donations and could be significantly decreased to £ 75.000 by the contribution of the army(!!!) who have put in time, work force and machinery.

The Society’s objective includes breeding programmes for threatened species, providing unique learning experiences for visitors and schools, and supporting conservation and research projects across the globe, including Scotland. Given the dimension of Mercedes’ new home, one might ask oneself if keeping polar bears will really end with Mercedes within the UK.

Doch nun zum Umzug von Mercedes. Bereits seit einigen Monaten wurde eine Umzugskiste vor ihr Gelände positioniert und die Zoomitarbeiter haben jeden Tag mit ihr daran gearbeitet, sie per positiver Verstärkung daran zu gewöhnen, rein-und rauszugehen. Jedes Mal, wenn sie in die Kiste geht, erhält sie eine Belohnung wie z.B. ein Stück gekochtes Huhn. Sie hatrelativ schnell positiv auf dieses Training reagiert, und die Pfleger gehen davon aus, dass der Umzug ohne Probleme stattfinden wird. Mercedes hat auch gelernt, auf ihren Hinterbeinen zu stehen, sodass ihre Pfoten und ihr Brustbereich kontrolliert werden können, ohne dass Narkose eingesetzt werden muss.-

Already for some months now, Mercedes’ transport crate was in front of her enclosure and since then the keepers at Edinbourgh Zoo have been working with her every day to train her to walk into the crate she’ll be transported in and to ensure the move goes as smoothly as possible.

Alison Maclean, Head Keeper of Carnivores, explains, “It is quite risky to sedate a large mammal so we have been training Mercedes to walk into the transport crate. We’ve been doing this using positive reinforcement – she has learned that when she walks into the crate she gets a reward, such as a piece of cooked chicken. She responded to the training extremely quickly and has been walking in and out of her crate for a few weeks now. We are confident that the move will go well and we’re looking forward to helping her settle into her new home.”

“Mercedes currently has a comprehensive and constantly evolving enrichment programme to stimulate her. She has also been trained by the keepers to stand on her back legs which allow them to check her paws and chest without the need for anesthesia.”-

Und hier ein Foto von Mercedes aus dem letzten Jahr im Mai, das ich so klasse finde, da es beweist, dass auch alternde Witwen durchaus Lust haben sich einzusauen, was ich ihr ausgiebigst für die ihr verbleibende Zeit in ihrem neuen Heim wünsche, das sie hoffentlich in bester Gesundheit ansteuert und in Besitz nimmt…sie hat es verdient!

And here a photo taken in May 2008, I like it so much as it is proof that even elderly widows love it dirty, and that’s what I wish her for the rest of her time in her new home which she hopefully will get to without any complications and in good health.

Make yourself comfortable and have fun, Mercedes, you deserve it!!!

Note: You will find all links for photos and sources used in the original posting here in the K-Files.

Sorry, there have been so many articles each one forming tidbits of a still incomplete picture concerning Mercedes’ life, impossible to refer to all of them.Most important are the articles and pictures I could not find, as to Barney, To-Nuik (especially about his career as Minty bear for Fox Glacier’s Mint), and Ohoto in Wakayama/Japan of whom I still hope she can be found one day and not dead as some articles insinuate without giving confirming proof…

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-You can find the whole article with more pics and links auch auf Deutsch here.-

Just a  couple of days ago I found the time to follow a link about Greenland’s recently granted expanded autonomy from Denmark. As Knut’s outpost in the Indian Ocean (Rodrigues) owns a certain status of autonomy too, granted by the Mauritian government in 2002, I have been reading everything with greatest interest, and sure, I hoped to learn at the same time more about the country itself, its inhabitants and especially its polar bear, displayed on Greenland’s coat of arm, reminding me a bit of Bearlin, Knut’s city and bear town already long before the final agreement about his whereabouts was reached recently…

From Home-Rule to Self-Rule

In folk festivals around the Arctic island, Greenlanders on Sunday, June 21, celebrated a new chapter in their history with expanded autonomy removing them a further step from Denmark’s colonial rule. Participating in the festivities in the capital Nuuk were Danish Queen Margrethe II and Greenland’s new premier, Kuupik Kleist, as Greenlanders celebrated the upgrading of their political status from “hjemmestyre” (home rule) into “selvstyre” (self-rule). In addition to that enhanced status for the 56,000 people, Greenlandic – which is closely related to the Inuit languages – became recognized as the official language. The government in Nuuk had enjoyed semi-autonomy from Denmark since 1979. In the future, Copenhagen will still, in principle, hold decision-making power for Greenland in security, foreign and monetary issues. But Denmark will in future abstain from any claims on Greenland’s huge but yet untapped, natural resources. Should revenues be forthcoming in the future from these resources, Denmark’s subsidies for Greenland would be reduced. At the moment, Denmark will still provide an annual “block grant” of 3.2 billion Danish kroner (595 million dollars) to Greenland, covering nearly half of all public expenditure. Kleist was swept into office by his sensational election victory earlier this month over the founders of Greenland’s autonomy movement, now decried as corrupt. Amid the festivities, Greenland still faces massive social ills including a high suicide rate, widespread domestic violence and alcoholism.The Arctic island’s chief economic pillar is fishing.

So, what about the island, reveled by Prince Henrik during a ceremony at Nuuk’s university, where he read two poems composed by himself, as “the crystal laughing of joy and in harmony with sea gulls and mischievous bears” and where “the lucidity of the stars inspires opalescent glaciers”?

During my brief virtual trip to the island crystal with the polar bear as icon, I haven’t discovered much that would have invited to laugh…instead of mischievous bear eyes, I found a considerable amount of photos, more likely displaying the bear pegged up for airing and as to the glaciers, it is looking too anything but optimal opalescent …

“In Greenland the polar bear lives and breeds in the northernmost parts of West Greenland and in Northeast Greenland, but is also occasionally seen elsewhere in Greenland, as it moves with the drifting ice. However, it is extremely rare for either local inhabitants or tourists to see a living polar bear. The chances of seeing a polar bear are greatest when sailing by ship along the coast. …The Greenlandic polar bear may only be hunted in quite special circumstances, but when an animal is killed there is – as with all other animals captured in Greenland – a tradition for utilising the whole animal. For example, the meat is eaten (after being cooked for hours to neutralise the trichinella sp.), the skull is used as a trophy, the claws as jewellery and the hide for trousers or kamik.

Due to the official Greenland Tourism website the polar bear is not threatened by hunting, but by environmental pollution. “So-called POPs (persistent organic pollutants) have been discovered in very high concentrations in polar bears from East Greenland and Svalbard. This has led to concern about the polar bear’s ability to reproduce. About one in 50 female bears on Svalbard has both male and female sex organs. In 2000 it was 1% in Spitzbergen.  A study in Greenland found out recently that there is also a correlation beween toxic waste caused by OHC pollutants and shrinking sexual organs in male and female polar bears. At the same time the effects of global warming mean that the Arctic ice is melting, thereby further reducing the polar bear’s natural habitat.

“In Greenland, restrictions for the species were first introduced in 1994 and expanded by executive order in 2005. Until 2005, Greenland placed no limit on hunting by indigenous people. It imposed a limit of 150 for 2006. It also allowed recreational hunting for the first time (here is a contradiction to what I have found in an official report issued in March 2009). Other provisions included year-round protectionof cubs and mothers, restriction on weapons used, and various administrative requirements to catalogue kills.”

The discussion about hunting rights for the Inuits is not a new one and it is not my interest to add more fuel to the debate, I just want to share some Greenland specific observations, reflections , known and less known facts…Concerning the hunting, the question is still what is a sustainable amount of polar bears killed, especially as no reliable figures have been recorded in the past in Greenland.Observations of increased numbers during recent years may be attributed to the fact that the ice is receding, bringing the bears just closer.

- “Each year, some 700 bears are killed in Canada, Greenland and Alaska out of a total population of 20,000 to 25,000 — a level that scientists generally deem sustainable.”

-”Added to the Greenland Inuits’ taking of about 100 bears from the same population, the Nunavut decision has endangered the survival of the species in the area, according to scientists who said a sustainable quota to be shared by the two countries was 93.”(read more
here)

- “While Greenland may now have quotas set with rigorous methodology, Canada has been using quotas since the 1960s. The United States and Norway introduced quotas in the 1970s. Greenland’s failure to impose quotas in the 1970s resulted in the overhunting of polar bears, which caused declines in 3 populations. It is going to take time for the Baffin Bay population to recover from the previous overhunting.”(read more here)

- “Indeed according to Bjorn Lomborg, in his second book ‘Cool It – the Skeptical Environmentalist’s Guide to Global Warming’, we have a choice: we can save 49 polar bears a year by banning hunting or 0.06 bears by subscribing to the Kyoto Protocol.”(read more here)

Extract from: “Greenland Is Ice And Iceland Is Green”

“This is a country (or rather, an autonomous state within the Kingdom of Denmark) with 56,000 people spread across an island the size of the European Union.Most of the country (85%) is covered with permanent ice and apart from 14,000 people living in Nuuk (previously known as Godthab), the capital, the rest of the population lives in 60 odd towns and villages in the small strips of non ice-covered land along the coast. Only 4,000 people live in the remote eastern half of the island that is cut off by ice for 9 months in a year.

Seal skin products, primarily by-products of the Inuit subsistence hunting, used to be the largest source of export income but that had long collapsed (together with tanneries and skin processing factories). 60% of Greenland’s GDP comprise of direct subsidies from Denmark (US$410m) and the largest (85%) source of export earnings is that of fish and seafood products. The latter are mainly in the form of licensing fees earned from foreign fishing fleets, although some of these earnings are made by the Royal Greenland Company, Greenland’s largest company, also owned by the Greenland Home Rule Government. There is some mining (which is actively encouraged by the Government) but they are hardly significant. On top of that, 20% of the population are not born in Greenland, i.e., mostly Danish who work in branches of the civil service, education and various technical or professional positions. As such, a relatively small portion of the GDP relate to economic activity that involves the indigenous Greenlander. About two-third of those employed work in the civil service. If you are cynical, you can say that the bulk of the employed Greenlanders work to distribute Danish subsidies to the population. This is hardly surprising, as this is a land hardly conducive to any form of economic activity or human habitation.

Agriculture and animal farming is hardly possible given the climate and natural environment. Industry is out due to the small population (try putting out an advert for 2,000 electronics factory positions in a country where the capital has only 14,000 people) and high transportation costs (the port is frozen today and will be for the next 6 months – can we ship the semi-conductor chip in summer time?) arising from weather and remoteness. Mining has been actively encouraged by quantities found so far has been small or simply uneconomical considering extraction costs (try digging for gold in permafrost! They can’t even bury dead bodies in winter.) and remoteness. Even retailing can be difficult here – how do you supply goods to 56,000 people who live across a country the size of western Europe ? The cost of doing so must be extraordinarily high, just considering transportation costs. Indeed, there is only one supermarket chain, and it’s state-owned. For the goods to be affordable (at prices slightly higher than in Europe), even the goods in the chain are subsidized.

Before the Danish came, the Inuits live by just hunting seals, polar bears and whales. They probably die young with disease and lack of nutrition. Now, they live till 68 years old with the benefit of modern health care, and acquired a more varied diet which include imported vegetable, pork, beef, lamb, cheese, bread and all the things that we find in the supermarket. All of these have to be imported, and little of these can be supported by the fragile environment and scarce natural resources they live in. Hunting of seals and granting of fishing licenses, even in the best years, can hardly support an economy that has to pay for all these modern amenities and new necessities. As such the Danish welfare state steps in and provides the cash gap. That’s why many are unemployed and live by collecting unemployment benefits, and suffering from the accompanying loss of morale and depression. As I have mentioned earlier, alcoholism has become a common abuse and people die from suicides and alcohol-related disease (Alcohol consumption per capita is double that of Denmark, and suicides and homicide account for an amazing 11% and 3% of all deaths respectively.)

There is no easy solution. Tourism may bring additional income – this has been increasing over the years. However, the number of tourists remains small. The lack of flights and high cost remain obstacles to tourism development. The former is a chicken and egg story – if there are few flights, tickets are expensive and tourists are deterred from coming. But if there are few tourists, few airlines have the incentive to fly there. Maybe Greenland can learn from Iceland (which has succeeded in diverting America-to-Europe air traffic to stopover in Iceland and that spark off Icelandic tourism industry), but again that might be an exceptional case and difficult to emulate.

I suspect all these point to one main point – given the harsh environment, Greenland simply cannot support its current population size. If Denmark decides one day to abandon Greenland and to stop all subsidies, most of the population, who in any case have Danish citizenship, would choose to emigrate to Denmark. It would be a sad thing. A destruction of an ancient lifestyle, which in any case have been supported by artificial non-market forces for many years.”

(posted by Tan Wee Cheng in August 2001)

Ever heard of Thule?

‘Thule’, in Gemany vaguely known by a children’s song or by Goethe’s poem, houses since 1951 the world’s far northest US military base in Greenland, responsible not only for the eviction of Inuit people originally living there but also for a nuclear bomber crash which happened in 1968. Only in 1995 it became known that the Danish government allowed the Americans to store and to transport nuclear weapons there. And only since last year, due to research by BBC journalists, crucial proof was found that one of the 4 bombs had never been found after the crash, as always maintained as fact by the Pentagon. The Inuit people who had not only lost their houses and who had also helped, rather unprotected, to clean up the nuclear debris, tried to gain some compensation. (Please find more really interesting articles in the link list at the bottom of the original posting.)

More Global Warming & Pollution

Since 1995, Greenland’s vast ice cap has lost 7 percent of its mass and 300 feet in height, according to the European Environmental Agency, a European Union body based in Denmark.An American study last summer showed that climate change had melted 60 square miles of surface area from the UNESCO-listed glacier Ilulissat from 2001-2005.

While working on this posting, a new report came in, concluding that dangerous levels of chemicals are in material dumped in the sea and now authorities are working to recover the rubble. A toxic substance was found to be on building material that has been dumped in the sea off the coast of  Greenland’s capital, Nuuk…(source here)

Believe it or not, after all the disturbing infos about Greenland, I found this beautiful photo (above) showing a glacier coming close to the poem’s descripton by Prince Henrik…As to the mischievous bear eyes I wasn’t successful but who knows, maybe I will write to Santa Claus this year, sending him a long list of wishes for the Greenlanders and their polar bears …

Please find the whole article with all references used and related articles in the K-files.

Ein großer Teil des Artikels kann in den K-files auf Deutsch gefunden werden. Dort gibt es auch eine lange Liste von Quellen-und Artikeln zum Thema.

Photo credits:Tan Wee Cheng (polar bear bank note), Wikipedia (arm of coat), Larry Rodrigues (Inuit trousers) Nick Cobbing (iceberg), Gelu Sulugiuc/Reuters (Santa Claus post-box),others unknown sources

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A long time nothing seemed to happen – today we found out…!

If you feel fit for a complicate case study…Feel free to analyse Dr. Knut’s newest report…

But first of all, we don’t want to miss the occasion to congratulate a special woman…As it turns out, it is again Mrs. Mervi’s birthday…. Mrs. Mervi – an amazing woman dedicating her life to other Knutitis victims, victims from all over the globe…, her achievements are uncompared, while world wide economy is stuck in recession, this lady with the heart of a bear could even extend her market shares, in addition to KNUIPE, KIA & KNUTITOURS she was able to add with Knuti’sWeekly Magazine not only a new branch in the media sector but one which is outdoing itself with each edition…So happy birthday and all the best to you…

You can download both files as pdf…

Go to the right wall of the K-files where you find all downloads, click on the covers.

You will be brought to Megaupload.

On top you will find a 3 letter code, fill in the 3 letters in the top right field provided.

You will then see the download page where you have 2 options, click Standard as this is free of charge, the other one (Premium) not!!!

You can click also here to get to the files…

1. Dr. Knut’s Confidential Birthday File Part I

2. Dr.Knut’s Confidential Birthday File Part II

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That one is from Melissa…

And here an after- birthday- letter of Kanthar…

Most of you know that I do some teaching here on the island and whenever there is a possibility, I use Knut and polar bear related material to make them work on conjugations, adjectives, verbs, tenses…It started with my German classes but recently I have got some younger kids , primarily to practice English and French basic writing and grammar skills…

So, I couldn’t resist introducing them to our friend Knut and it was fun to watch them doing the drawings.We have now started on a little bear and geography project…to find out where Tosca came from, where to find polar bears and penguins and why they are threatened.

I just wanted to share these pics with you.

Find more drawings in the K-Files by clicking on the pics…And sure you will find Knut as well…

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Zum Klauen süß….!!!

Auf der Suche nach ihren Namen, fand ich zwar keine Namen, aber diese Fotos von Steve Tracy, der in Japan lebt und der die beiden und ihre Mutter zweimal besucht hat…Namen gibt es noch keine, da das Zoopersonal offensichtlich zögert, in die Innigkeit zwischen den Kleinen und ihrer absolut bezaubernden Mutter Rara einzugreifen…Mit dem Wissen, dass es in der Vergangenheit bereits peinliche Fehldiagnosen gegeben hat, nur zu verständlich…

Sweet, aren’t they??? By the way, I am Denali, the father…and you won’t steal them!

Searching for name news on the Japanese twins , I didn’t find any names but I found the lovely photos of Steve Tracy, an Aussie (and Knut friend!!!) living in Japan who has visited the cubs and their Mom 2 times. Until now these little ones haven’t got any names as the gender could not yet be determined, the staff seems to be hesitant to intrude into the closeness between mom Rara and her cubs and as to gender issues, we all know that in the past there had been some mis-identification causing worldwide headlines last year…

-An older post about the Japanese cubs, you find here (dt., engl, japan.).
-And here more heartwarming photos of Steve Tracy , his other wildlife photos are worthwhile too!!
-The Marayuma Zoo site, where I found Denali, shows also some lovely pics…it’s all in Japanese but you can click yourself through the photos…
- And here again, the first video, and something about their first swim in April, also with video…

And sure, the outpost of Knut will keep you posted about the Sapporo twins…!

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Thomas Dörflein und seine Wölfe/Foto: Viktor

Wenn ich an Thomas Dörflein denke, habe ich eine Szene vor Augen, die sich in einer Berichterstattung des RBB aus dem Berliner Zoo, ganz unabhängig von der Handaufzucht eines Eisbären ergab.

Ein Medienschaffender, der heute Wissenschaftsjournalismus betreibt und mit mir den selben Vornamen, allerdings mit falschem Anfangsbuchstaben, teilt, saß im Gehege der Wölfe und plauderte mit Thomas Dörflein über seine Arbeit. Da der Tierpfleger mitten in selbiger war, saß er nicht gemeinsam mit dem Herren Journalisten auf einem liegenden Baumstamm, sondern stand daneben.

Der Fragesteller trug einen Anorak mit pelzbesetzter Kapuze. Die Frage, ob es sich um Echt- oder Webpelz handelte, ist zwar interessant, aber in diesem Zusammenhang völlig unerheblich. Interessant ist, daß sich die Wölfe für diese Kapuze zu interessieren begannen. Ein ganz vorwitziger Wolf schlich sich von hinten an, um das pelzige Ding näher zu inspizieren. Thomas Dörflein sieht es, grinst sich eins und… macht weiter im Text… des Interviews.

Da springt der Wolf nach vorne, will die Kapuze packen, erwischt sie nur ganz leicht – mit einem halben Fangzahn quasi – da ruft ihn schon, mit einem kurzen Wort, Thomas Dörfleins Autorität zur Räson, der Wolf lässt ab und geht seiner Wege.

Das ganze war eine sekundenschnelle Aktion, lang genug aber, um das Gesicht des Medienschaffenden so weiß werden zu lassen, wie es das Fell der Berliner Wölfe ist. Vielleicht interpretiere ich es nachträglich in diese Szene hinein, aber mein Eindruck war, daß Thomas Dörflein nach diesem kleinen Zwischenspiel mehr Spaß an dem Gespräch hatte, als sein medialer Gesprächspartner.

Danke

Carsten Schöne 

And here the English version

When I think of Thomas Dörflein, I recall one scene which happened to be part of a rbb report about the Zoo Berlin and which was not connected to the hand raising of a polar bear.Someone working for the medias and who is today in science journalism, and who by the way shares my first name except of the first letter, was sitting in the enclosure of the wolves, chatting with Thomas Dörflein about his work. As the keeper was right in the middle of doing it, he was not sitting together with Mr.Journalist on a tree trunk, but standing beside.

The interviewer wore an anorak with a furry coated hood.The question if it was a genuine fur or an imitated one made of fleece, might come up as an interesting one, but was in this context without any importance. More interesting that the wolves started to develop a sort of interest in this hood. A very meddlesome and mischievous wolf sneaked from behind for a closer inspection of this furry thing. Thomas Dörflein, aware of it, is grinning …and continues with the interview. Suddenly the wolf jumps forward in order to get hold of the hood, catches it slightly, with one fang maybe, when Thomas Dörflein orders him off, using just one brief word but full with authority, the wolf took off and strolled away.An action, not taking longer than some seconds but long enough to change the complexion of that media man into a white not unsimilar to the fur of the Arctic wolves of Berlin.. Maybe today I lay too much into this late situation, but I was strongly under the impression that from that moment on, Thomas Dörflein enjoyed the interview much more than the journalist.

Thank you

Carsten Schöne

Foto:Viktor

Dies ist mein erster Beitrag hier, wegen der besonderen Beziehung, die der Aussenposten zu den Wölfen hat und weil es nun bereits 5 Monate her ist…in Erinnerung an Thomas Dörflein und Simba…, die in ihren Geschichten auch gerne mit einem dieser Wölfe getanzt hätte…

This is my first contribution here, as the Outpost has always had a soft spot for the wolves and as already 5 months have passed…in rememberance of Thomas Dörflein and Simba…,who certainly would have liked to dance one day with one of these wolves…

Carsten Schöne gebührt Dank für das Aufschreiben dieser Geschichte und UlliJ für das Finden…Danke!

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