GERMANY: Baby brown bear triplets go on a walkabout in Bavarian Wildlife Park

While Berlin zoo visitors and media keep circling famous polar bear cub Knut, Bavaria has imported its very own bear-sensation: brown bear triplets Maja, Mette and Molly who were presented to the public on Thursday (April 19). The Poing Wild Life Park's latest addition is a family of brown bears from, Sweden, headed by mother Mia. "Yes, they are triplets, three girls called Maja, Mette and Molly. They are fit as a fiddle, running around the area quite happily. The special thing about this enclosure is the area: a lake, a forrest, two creeks are running right through. It is every bear's dream, whether he be from Sweden or where ever. I am sure they will love it here," said Josef Festl, director of Poing Wildlife Park. The little family is also special for another reason: bear cub litters usually consist of more than one baby. It is very rare, however, for more than one of them to survive. Despite the park's new fluffy claim to fame, Festl said he did not want the kind of attention for his park polar bear cub Knut brought to Berlin Zoo. "Of course, this is special. But we do ot really want a rush of visitors here, this is just an additional attraction for our regulars. We absolutely don't want this to get out of hand, we want to carry on business as usual, we don't want chaos like in Berlin," he said. Maja, Molly and Mette are three months old, mother Mia is aged seven years. The arrived at the park at the end of March having been brought in from a Swedish Wildlife Park specialised in Bears. The enclosure they will now live in had originally been reserved for the brown bear haunting Bavaria in 2006, dubbed "Bruno", shot dead after a months-long hunt. Bruno had turned against the sheep and chickens of resident farmers.

ITN Source | April 21, 2007

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