KEY POINTS:
He almost died at birth, but yesterday, weighing in at a hefty 110kg, Knut, the world's most famous polar bear celebrated his first birthday in Berlin by devouring a giant cake, unaware of his lifelong carer's fervent desire to see the back of him as soon as possible.
Children under the age of 15 were allowed free entrance to Berlin Zoo to see Knut walk from his enclosure to a platform where he made quick work of a huge oval birthday cake made of ice, fruit and vegetables.
Knut rapidly won the sympathy of millions a year ago when photographs and television footage of the bear were shown around the world after his mother rejected him.
A Berlin zookeeper, Thomas Dorflein, came to the rescue.
For the past year he has been Knut's surrogate mother, hand-feeding him day and night with bottled milk, rubbing his body with oil and playing him Elvis Presley ballads on his guitar to help him sleep.
Yesterday, however, Mr Dorflein, 44, who has virtually given up life with his own family to look after Knut, said he could wish the bear no better birthday present than permanent separation.
Although there is no longer any physical contact between the two, he said Knut risked becoming dependent on him for life.
"I hope that Knut is accepted by another zoo which has a bigger compound for him and a mate. Someday soon, Knut and I will have to split up," he told Germany's Bild newspaper.
When Knut first appeared in public last year more than 500 journalists were present.
Hundreds of Knut toy bears are sold as souvenirs to zoo visitors daily and 25,000 silver commemorative Knut coins have been issued by the Federal Mint.
Knut has also proved useful as a symbol for promoting Green values.
The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, has admitted that she likes looking at photographs of Knut and says she has developed "sympathy" for the bear, who is being used for a logo in the campaign against global warming.
Berlin's Der Tagesspiegel newspaper developed the theme by running a story yesterday from the town of Churchill in Canada, where 900 people are competing for living space - diminished by a melting ice cap - with 1,000 polar bears.
In May the bear will feature as a symbol of the world's endangered species at a conference in Bonn.
It was left to Mr Dorflein to inject a dose of reality to yesterday's celebrations: "Knut is not like my child and he does not arouse the same kind of emotions ," he said. "For me Knut is always an animal."
- INDEPENDENT
