Knut the polar bear gets Berlin Zoo memorial
File photo of visitors looking at polar bear cub Knut at an enclosure in Berlin zoo on April 9, 2007. The memorial sculpture "Knut - The Dreamer" by Josef Tabachnyk depicting polar bear Knut was unveiled at the Berlin Zoo on Oct 24, 2012. Knut, who became a global celebrity as a cute cub, died in Berlin zoo on March 19, 2011 aged just four. The first polar bear born at the zoo for more than 30 years, was rejected by his mother and fed instead by his keeper Thomas Doerflein. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
File photo of Polar bear cub Knut playing with a blanket during during the bear's first presentation in Berlin zoo, on March 23, 2007. The memorial sculpture "Knut - The Dreamer" by Josef Tabachnyk depicting polar bear Knut was unveiled at the Berlin Zoo on Oct 24, 2012. Knut, who became a global celebrity as a cute cub, died in Berlin zoo on March 19, 2011 aged just four. The first polar bear born at the zoo for more than 30 years, was rejected by his mother and fed instead by his keeper Thomas Doerflein. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
File photo of polar bear Knut eating his 'birthday cake' during his second birthday celebrations in his enclosure at the Berlin Zoo on Dec 5, 2008. The memorial sculpture "Knut - The Dreamer" by Josef Tabachnyk depicting polar bear Knut was unveiled at the Berlin Zoo on Oct 24, 2012. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
Erika Doerflein, the mother of deceased Zoo keeper Thomas Doerflein, looks at the sculpture "Knut - The Dreamer" by Josef Tabachnyk depicting polar bear Knut, during an unveiling ceremony at the Berlin Zoo on Oct 24, 2012. Knut, the polar bear who became a global celebrity as a cute cub, died in Berlin zoo on March 19, 2011 aged just four. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
German sculptor Josef Tabachnyk poses next to his work "Knut - The Dreamer" depicting polar bear Knut during an unveiling ceremony at the Berlin Zoo on Oct 24, 2012. Knut, the polar bear who became a global celebrity as a cute cub, died in Berlin zoo on March 19, 2011 aged just four. The first polar bear born at the zoo for more than 30 years, was rejected by his mother and fed instead by his keeper Thomas Doerflein. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
A woman touches a monument to polar bear Knut after its unveiling at the Zoo in Berlin, Germany, on Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012. Knut, who was born in Dec. 2006 at the zoo, quickly rose to celebrity status as an irresistibly cute, fluffy cub. -- PHOTO: AP
Berlin (AFP) - Berlin Zoo on Wednesday unveiled a bronze memorial to Knut, an uber-cute cuddly polar bear that captured hearts worldwide and devastated fans when he died from a suspected brain seizure last year.
The small sculpture, entitled "Knut The Dreamer", shows the snowy-white bear reclining lazily on rocks in his pen at the zoo.
"Knut will stay in the hearts of many visitors, therefore this memorial will create something for future generations so that the unique nature of this animal celebrity will live on," said the Friends of the Capital Zoos association.
Knut, who died suddenly aged four, shot to fame after being abandoned by his mother and reared by hand by a zookeeper.












