Cute Fix: Broken-Hearted
One of my most loving Cute Fixes was dedicated to the German bear Knut (that’s Kuh-NOOT), who was abandoned by his mother and thus raised by a keeper, Thomas Dorflein, at the Berlin Zoo. I became absolutely obsessed with this bear. I watched countless videos, read articles, learned German and flew to Berlin in a hot-air balloon just to get a peek at him. I gave so many hours of my life to him, I shouldn’t even call myself Jewish. I became Knutish.
Now comes the sad, sad, sad news that Thomas Dorflein, my heroic doppleganger, has died at 44 under “mysterious circumstances.” No, Knut didn’t swipe him. But what happened? It’s not clear yet. Below, the most savagely misleading, incorrect headline ever. The content of the article says, in fact, that it would be impossible for Knut to mourn Dorflein, and that there never was a “love story” between them. But it certainly gets people to read, right Susan?
Love story: Knut mourns his keeper
And I defy you to tell me, after watching the below video, that there wasn’t love between Knut and Dorflein. I won’t believe it!
liz | 10:55 AM | Uncategorized
I just hope the pharmaceutical companies don’t try to get in on this. Putting Knut on Paxil to deal with grief might make for an interesting publicity stunt but I would hate to handle a bear with side effects.
I’ve never understood people who are heavily invested in denying the emotions and perceptions of animals.
By the way, do a Google search for Ben Kilham and you can read about a man who raises orphaned bear cubs to maturity and releases them into the wild here in NH. He’s an awesomely gentle man, a real treasure. He has dyslexia and became a gunsmith in his teens and is highly respected in that field. If you’re an Olympic biathelete, Ben’s the guy who’ll be making your rifle. But you won’t hear that from him–I had to ask his wife Debbie. His book is terrific.
Beautiful video Liz.
It was fun taking a Magical Mystery Tour with you in your Balloon. Knut rocks. What’s next? Can we go see the new born baby pandas?
And yes, animals mourn. I;ve seen articles on elephants mourning, and chimpanzees and orangatangs mourning their babies.
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