edmontonsun.com

Wed, April 18, 2007
Celebrity bear back on stage

BERLIN -- The Berlin Zoo's celebrity polar bear cub Knut, whose every twitch has been reported by a fawning media, is going back before his fans after taking a one-day break to recover from teething pains.

Knut was given a respite on Monday from his twice-daily one-hour appearances before thousands of visitors after he received medication to help with a painful canine tooth coming in.

Yesterday, his recovery seemed full enough to allow the four-month old cub's show to go on, zoo veterinarian Andre Schuele said.

"Knut's doing better," Schuele said. "He's mobile and frisky."

Born at the zoo on Dec. 5, Knut was rejected by his mother and hand-raised by zookeepers. He now weighs nearly 15 kilograms.

So great is the polar bear's appeal that zoo attendance has roughly doubled to a daily average of 15,000 since his debut, officials have said.

He has his own blog and TV show and appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair.

Comment: Poor little soul. Born to live in a cage, never to know real freedom and life as a bear is supposed to live. Lavone