Animal lovers were shook up over the sudden death last month of Knut, the polar bear who resided in the Berlin Zoo. As it turns out, it appears that Knut died from undetected brain damage, according to a report on AsiaOne.com.
http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/World/Story/A1Story20110322-269501.html
Knut was only four years old when he was found dead in a pool at the zoo. He had become world famous for his playful antics when he was a cub. He was reared by humans after his mother abandoned him.
Following his demise, the Berlin Zoo put out a press release that said a necropsy found “significant changes to the brain, which could be seen as the reason for the sudden death of the polar bear.”
It’s a shame that “cute Knut,” as he was nicknamed, met this end.
Once he grew into an adult, animal-rights groups expressed fear that Knut was behaving oddly because of all the attention he garnered from the visitors that flocked to the zoo to see him.
“He would sway to and fro and even imitate people taking photos by lifting a paw to his face,” AsiaOne reported.
I guess those animal-rights groups were right to be worried about Knut.