Concerns are being raised by the World Wildlife Fund about the nurturing of the world’s latest hand reared polar bear, who made her first public appearance at Nuremberg Zoo yesterday. 4 week old ‘Flocke’, meaning snowflake, took her first swim in front of a swarm of the world’s photographers, but fears abound for how the cub will be nurtured in captivity.

The previous German hand reared polar cub ‘Knut’, is now overweight, with no partner, and spends his days standing on his hind legs playing to the zoo crowds. German lawyer Ralf Bossi has now been drafted in to challenge Nuremberg Zoo to uphold the countries animal protection law. This law states that animals reared in captivity should be done so in a manner that is conducive to the way they would be nurtured in the wild.

Flocke and Knut were both separated from their respective parents after fears for their safety escalated. It is not uncommon for a female Polar bear to kill and eat her young if they are ill or refuse food. Both cubs were removed from their mother’s enclosure after being rejected and being viciously thrown around.

Keeping Polar bears in captivity is a major talking point for animal welfare groups around the world. Some argue that human intervention saves the life of the cub, yet others argue that the bears become too dependent on human interaction, forcing their natural instincts to become alien to them.

Berlin Zoo has allegedly made nearly 5million Euros in merchandise from Knut, including the sale of film rights to make an animated story about Knut’s life. But with Knut now living the isolated life of a circus sideshow, is this the future we can now expect to see for Flocke? My question is:-

are the polar bear cubs being raised for the good of nature, or for the good of raising capital?

> > click here to sponsor a wild, artic polar bear

> > click here to make a donation to the WWF

The Brazilian government are offering a helping hand to the World Land Trust’s fight to save the rainforests, by building a £10million condom factory in the middle of the Amazon jungle!

The latex for the 100 million condoms the factory will produce a year will be manually extracted from the trees, meaning none of the rainforest will be damaged. The factory is based deep in the Amazonian jungle in Xapuri, on the border of Bolivia and Peru. 500 local families rely on ‘rubber tapping’ for their income (which will now double), allowing them to buy more farm animals and a better standard of living. Plus, with the lessening damage to the rainforests helping the world’s climate change, it seems the message from Brazil is :-

‘Make love, not warm’

> > click here to help save half an acre of rainforest

> > click here to find out more about the climate change