Green Jersey visits Knut
Still cute. Photo by Jennifer Weiss
Knut, the star German polar bear who is personally related in some way to the fight against global warming, turned 2 on Dec. 5.
I was outside the Berlin Zoo on Knut’s birthday, wondering whether one bear was worth the full cost of admission. I decided he wasn’t, then returned with my traveling companion a few days later, euros in hand.
Knut is being fought over right now; he has outgrown the Berlin Zoo, but he’s a lucrative tenant (he brought an estimated 5 million euros to the zoo last year alone and has become a symbol of the city). The zoo has said it would cost too much to build him a bigger home and find him a mate.
On Monday, he made headlines again when some guy jumped into his enclosure, citing loneliness.
Polar bears are listed as vulnerable by the IUCN, and threatened by the U.S. Endangered Species Act, with global warming a major threat to their survival. Followed closely by the Bush Administration.
Recently, the government weakened the Endangered Species Act with a “midnight rule” that prevents global warming from being factored into an animal’s status and relaxed emissions regulations for new power plants.
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