Flocke

Flocke was born at the Nuremberg Zoo on 11 December 2007 to Vera and Felix. Felix also mated with Vera’s sister Vilma, who gave birth some weeks earlier in November to what officials thought were two cubs. A few weeks after her birth, she was removed from her mother’s care after concerns were raised for her safety.

About Flocke in brief

Summary Flocke Flocke was born at the Nuremberg Zoo on 11 December 2007 to Vera and Felix. Felix also mated with Vera’s sister Vilma, who gave birth some weeks earlier in November to what officials thought were two cubs. A few weeks after her birth, she was removed from her mother’s care after concerns were raised for her safety. The zoo had established a strict non-interference policy with its animals, but officials chose to raise the cub by hand. Like Knut, a captive-born and handraised polar bear at the Berlin Zoo, Flocke quickly became a media sensation. In late 2008, a Russian-born male polar bear named Rasputin was introduced to her enclosure in the hopes that she would gain valuable socializing skills with a member of her own species. In April 2010, both bears were relocated to Marineland in southern France. Her name was trademarked by the zoo and her image appeared on toys and in advertisements throughout the city. At five weeks old, she made headlines for the first time when she was referred to by the media as ‘Mrs. Knut’, suggesting that the two polar-born bears might become mates when they become older. She was officially named by zookeepers because her white fur was carefully reported by media during her first few months of life.

The official name was announced on 18 January 2008 by Ulrich Maly Maly, mayor ofNuremberg, and broadcast live on television. Despite of e-mailed suggestions from across the world, the zoo officially named her FlocKE, as well as the nickname used by the previous naming, “Mrs. Flop” The zoo announced in May 2008 that United Nations Environment Program chief Achim Steiner would be Flocce’s official patron with the hope of using the bear as an ambassador to encourage awareness of climate change. She is the first polar bear to be named after a U.N. official, and the first female polar bear in Germany to have been born in captivity. She has been the subject of several books, including “Polar Bears: The Story of a Polar Bear” by David Perry and “The Polar Bears: A Polar Bear’s Life in captivity” by Simon Tisdall. The book was published by Oxford University Press and is available in hardback and paperback. The first edition of the book, which includes a foreword, was published in November 2007. The second edition, published in March 2008, was released in hardcover and hardback.