Zoo Wars

Fur Flies But Knut to Stay in Berlin

Berlin's favorite polar bear, Knut, has been feeling the heat. The sparks of a financial dispute between two German zoos, that is. At one stage it seemed the popular quadruped might have to leave Berlin. But now the case has been settled -- and Knut will be staying in the city that he has always called home.

This German superstar has been the subject of television shows, countless articles, books and a model for dozens of toys. He has appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair magazine and even has his face on a German stamp and a silver coin. A Hollywood movie deal is rumored to be in the works. And he attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors a year to Berlin's Zoo.

There's no doubt that Knut, the world famous polar bear and Germany's biggest export since Heidi Klum, is worth more than his weight in gold. After his birth in 2006, visitor numbers at the Berlin Zoo, where the cub was the first to survive infancy in over three decades, shot up by 500,000. And the zoo made an estimated €5 million ($7.4 million) in extra revenues from their new bear cub.

So it was hardly surprising that someone else might want a piece of the Knut action. That someone was the Neumünster Zoo. Since last year, Berlin Zoo and the the Neumünster Animal Park have been in a legal tug-of-love for the young polar bear. But now a court has ruled that Knut will stay in Berlin.

Just as with Knut's birth and his childhood antics, the case has made international headlines. Journalists reported that the atmosphere in the Berlin court was akin "to a high-powered divorce case, with lobbyists and society reporters scrambling for space and thrusting microphones in the faces of lawyers."

It all started when the Neumünster Animal Park loaned their polar bear, Lars, to Berlin Zoo. There he met Tosca, the female bear who would eventually be Knut's mother. According to a contract between the two zoos, the first surviving polar bear of the union would belong to the zoo in Neumünster.

Accordingly the zoo keepers in Neumünster asked for their bear back. But Berlin did not want to give up Knut, who is now two and a half years old. So Neumünster asked for financial compensation instead. Around €700,000 would do, they said. Berlin Zoo made a counter offer of €350,000 and also refused to share any of the profits from the licensing of Knut's image and trademark, worth an estimated €6 million. Neumünster quietly threatened to remove the bear, who has become something of a symbol for the city, from Berlin.

The case was settled this week with a judge allowing Knut to stay in Berlin if the city zoo paid a settlement of €430,000. The Berlin Zoo had argued that if their zookeepers had not been around to hand rear the cub, who was abandoned by his mother, then he would not have survived anyway. They also argued that if the cub had not been born in the German capital, then he would not have had as much attention paid to him and, therefore, would not have benefited from the marketing opportunities that have since come his way.

And so Knut is set to stay in Berlin for the forseeable future. And while visitors will be thrilled, no doubt it is the zoo's financial directors who will be sporting the broadest smiles.

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