“Snowflake is being exploited as an object for people to project their own feelings of inadequacy in order to fill the city’s coffers,” said one activist from People for Animal Rights.
The protestors – dressed in fuzzy bear suits – criticized that polar bears held in captivity created a false reality for zoo visitors, when many animals actually faced extinction due to their shrinking habitats.
On Tuesday, the almost-four-month-old polar bear baby from Nuremberg will find her home invaded by camera teams and coiffed TV reporters commenting on her every move. Several German broadcasters as well as CNN and Japan’s Fuji TV will be at Nuremberg’s zoo to record Snowflake’s first steps in her open-air enclosure.
Up to now, the only images of Snowflake – or Flocke in German – were recordings from the bear nursery, which is not open to the public.
The current media excitement recalls the March 2007 debut of Knut, Berlin’s baby polar bear, who soon became omnipresent in German and international media.
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