On 24th March 2007 Belin Zoo's cute polar bear cub Knut made his public debut. It was decided that Thomas Doerflein was to be his keeper. He set up a bunk bed beside the incubator that kept the baby alive, gently stroking him and feeding him with a baby's bottle. He christened him Knut after a Viking monarch and for the next five months Thomas never left his side and became his surrogate father.
Doerflein was a shy, private man who shunned publicity. He declined offers to appear on talk shows and rarely gave interviews. Then last December, everything suddenly changed. Doerflein was summoned to the office of Berlin Zoo director Bernhard Blaskiewitz and told that he would no longer be caring for Knut. The extraordinary bond which had been built between bear and man was to be severed.
Doerflein was a shy, private man who shunned publicity. He declined offers to appear on talk shows and rarely gave interviews. Then last December, everything suddenly changed. Doerflein was summoned to the office of Berlin Zoo director Bernhard Blaskiewitz and told that he would no longer be caring for Knut. The extraordinary bond which had been built between bear and man was to be severed.
Doerflein was distraught, and demanded to be allowed to continue looking after Knut but his request was denied and just nine months later, he was found dead, apparently from a heart attack. But some people believe that he died of a broken heart, he was afterall only 44 years old.
Such a sad ending to a wonderful story that delighted the whole world.
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