Knut’s Keeper Found Dead
Posted September 23, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Police say the zookeeper who gained fame for hand-rearing the famous polar bear Knut has been found dead in a Berlin apartment.
A police spokeswoman says Thomas Doerflein was found dead Monday afternoon but said authorities have no information on the cause of death. Doerflein was 44 years old.
He gained fame in Germany and beyond in 2007 as the personal caretaker for Berlin Zoo’s most famous resident – Knut the polar cub.
Knut became a sensation when the zoo decided to hand-raise him because he had been rejected by his mother. Doerflein was inseparable from the growing polar bear and often frolicked with Knut in his enclosure. But in July 2007 the zoo’s director banned Doerflein from playing with Knut because the bear had grown too large.
Six-month-old polar bear cub Knut plays with his keeper Thomas Doerflein at the Berlin Zoo June 22, 2007 in Berlin, Germany. Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images.
