BEARSCARE

So, readers have been asking me about Knut, the polar bear quite a bit. Well, I’m sick of it. So, here’s an update on FLOCKE: she’s fine. Don’t worry. As far as I can tell from the following picture, Flocke is growing up to be a respectible polar bear just like her first cousin, Knut. Although I don’t advocate bears eating seals, she’s going to start getting pretty bored soon. I believe there are some excellent soy-based imitation seal products out there, so let me be the first to recommend to Germans (Deutschlanders) they buy this stuff. It’s environmentally responsible since the soy is grown with replaceable fuel sources.

We all know the Chinese are wrong about everything and this is no exception. 2008 is the year of the rat? I don’t think so. 2008 is the year of the polar bear. It is a great honor to present to the world this bear:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhrQh2ojYWw]

After Knut, Flocke and now this new cub, Germany would be a pretty sweet place to visit (for the zoos). I’m sure there will be more information on this little fellow to come and it will be right here.

Flocke. OK, I’m OK with this. The name is pretty deece.

YES!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWQZr3gJ8to&rel=1]

Germany has made a lot of mistakes in the past but it looks like they’re finally getting it together in the 21st Century. About a year ago, they rescued a polar bear named Knut (pictured below). He’s growing up and becoming vicious just like any other sweet bear.

Well, Germans finally know a good thing when they see it. When a mother polar bear, Vera, who is presently living at the Nuremberg Zoo, started acting like a maniac (pacing back and forth, carrying her cub in HER JAWS, etc) zookeepers decided to intervene [1]. And now we have a sweet, 4-week-old bear to hang out with.

Apparently the cub is doing well. Nobody knows for sure what sex the bear is, but there is thought that it is female. It is being called “Flocke”, which is German for “flake” (like snow flake–yeah, totally lame name), but the Germans are accepting suggestions for a permanent name since they aren’t creative enough to do it themselves [2].

The video below shows Flocke and her mother. The mother is clearly berserk, but still sweet. I’m glad that Flocke is going to make it.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RCwi1HUkpw&rel=1]

There is an excellent website devoted to Flocke here.

[1] http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i26YSrioqHf1q-seU1ErRJ9DTxQA

[2] http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hhQQi1WKMMdbmNNE7_bMbrSj6LEwD8U3VNU00