KNUT MONUMENT UNVEILED AT BERLIN ZOO

[xchrom]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_GERMANY_REMEMBERING_KNUT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-10-24-09-52-03


A woman touches a monument to polar bear Knut after its unveiling at the Zoo in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012. Knut, who was born in Dec. 2006 at the zoo, quickly rose to celebrity status as an irresistibly cute, fluffy cub. Knut was rejected by his mother at birth — along with his twin brother, who only survived a couple of days. He attracted attention when his main caregiver, Thomas Doerflein, camped out at the zoo to give the button-eyed cub his bottle every two hours. Knut died March 19, 2011 in front of hundreds of visitors at Berlin zoo, turning around several times and then falling into the water in his enclosure. A necropsy of the four-year-old bear showed he was suffering from encephalitis. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

BERLIN (AP) -- Fans of the late polar bear Knut packed the area around the Berlin Zoo enclosure where he died unexpectedly last year at the age of 4 for the dedication of a new monument to him.

Zoo director Bernhard Blaszkiewitz said Wednesday he hopes the bronze statue called "Knut the dreamer" will attract a lot of children like other such monuments to animals in the park.

Knut fan Jutta Geissler says the artist did a great job capturing the polar bear's personality and that "all the emotions for Knut are back again."

[Solly Mack]

1. That's touching.

Knut brought joy to a lot of people.

[xchrom]

2. I thought it was pretty cool. Nt

[JanMichael]

3. Cute Knut :( I was sad when he died...but! I wonder why no one

ever mentions the sad death of the zookeeper? He seemed like a cool guy-- but, rarely gets mentioned other than "he took care of Knut," with his death being ignored.

[HopeHoops]

4. Beautiful statue.