Polar Bear

A story on CNN.com yesterday tells the story of two polar bear cubs at a zoo in Berlin, Germany that were rejected and ignored by their mother. After one of the bears died, the zoo intervened and began feeding and caring for the other. This should be a "feel-good" story, but animal rights activists are apparently outraged, saying that the bear would be better off dead than raised by humans. Activist Frank Albrecht explained his position in this way...

"Feeding by hand is not species-appropriate but a gross violation of animal protection laws. If a polar bear mother rejected the baby, then I believe the zoo must follow the instincts of nature. In the wild, it would have been left to die. The zoo must kill the bear."

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/03/19/polar.bear.ap/index.html

Albrecht isn't alone. Other animal rights organizations have agreed with his position, calling the current treatment of the bear "inhumane". Thankfully, zoo officials are ignoring them. We should all do the same. It is an outrage that people and groups that take ridiculous positions such as this continue to call themselves animal rights organizations.