A year after, star polar bear turns Germany’s problem cub

As the bear has grown from a virtual living stuffed animal into a 350-pound adolescent, newspapers here have taken issue with everything from Knut's weight to his sexuality, with one paper asking if the bear is gay. But the most enduring question is the one posed by animal-protection groups from the very beginning: How being hand-raised by humans would affect him when he grew up.

When Knut was nuzzling his handler, Thomas Doerflein, to the delight of an adoring public, the objections of outside experts were brushed aside. Knut was raised by zookeepers after his mother rejected him shortly after birth. His antics weren't bad for business either, bringing in an estimated $8 million in extra revenues for the Berlin Zoo last year.

But times change, cubs grow up and those experts may have been on to something after all. "With Knut, it's clear that he has imprinted on humans, and when neither his keeper nor visitors are there he cries out," said Thomas Pietsch, a biologist and expert on wild animals for the animal-welfare group Four Paws in Germany. Peter H Arras, a zoologist and animal-protection advocate put it more succinctly: "He's a psychopath addicted to human attention."

But the country's newer star attractions did refocus attention on Knut's well-being. Andre Schuele, a veterinarian at the Berlin Zoo, dismissed concerns about Knut's health, physical or mental. "I am very, very pleased about his development," said Schuele. Knut is a healthy polar bear, but as a natural result of aging, "the cuteness factor is falling," Schuele said.

On a recent sunny afternoon, the number of spectators fluctuated between a dozen and just a pair. The fading star lay with his head on his paws, his fur stained a yellowish brown from rolling around in sand and dirt.

"Is that Knut?" a group of teenagers asked. Told that it was, they looked disappointed, one said, "Oh," and barely a minute later, they had gone.