The Psychotic Environmentalist

Those of us who take a moderate, science and logic driven approach to the future of the environment occasionally wonder about the fury that seems to drive the true believers in the need to radically punish human behavior that contributes to global warming. We now have a striking example of just how twisted and disconnected from reality such obsessions can become.

In Germany two cubs were born to a former East German circus bear. One of them, named Knut by zookeepers, were rejected by their mother and left to die. The criminal zookeepers had the unmitigated gall to begin to feed and care for the baby polar bear, who is pictured here.

Such care for the bear is clearly unnatural. In the wild the bear would either be cared for by its mother or it would die in the still-frigid environment in the northern polar zones. According to the German environmental police keeping this bear alive, thereby making him familiar with humans is the greatest crime conceivable.

You can't make this stuff up. Here are the quotes from the environmental experts:

“Hand-feeding is not appropriate to the species and is a grave violation of the animal protection laws,” said Frank Albrecht, an animal rights campaigner. “Legally speaking, the zoo should kill the baby bear. Otherwise it is condemning the bear to a dysfunctional life and that too is a breach of the law.”

The director of Aachen zoo, Wolfram Ludwig, also believes the Berliners made the wrong decision in saving Knut: “It is not correct to bottle-feed a small polar bear. He will always be fixated on his keeper and will never grow to be a proper polar bear.” Knut, he argues, should have been killed when Tosca rejected him. “One should have had the courage to kill him much earlier.”

These people are advocating the killing of this baby bear and asserting that the environmental laws of Germany require it. Let's remember this is not a sick or suffering animal. Euthanasia is being suggested as the best solution to save this animal from a fate worse than death, that is, any life not lived as a purely natural polar bear. Do these people take the same view, one wonders, regarding disabled human children who require extensive "unnatural" care in order to survive?