Lucy, you got some 'splainin' to do

I'm just not getting this story.. Let's see, the bear's mother abandons him and his brother; his brother eventually dies, and now he must die because, well, because if he was in the wild he would have died too?

What the hell are you people thinking? Are you actually thinking? Are you on crack? Maybe you misunderstood - we're talking about a polar bear not a polar beer. They're different. It's perfectly acceptable to kill a beer, even expected in most locations. Killing a bear is different, in a slightly subtly way.

It's because his mother abandoned him, huh? And he would have died if left in the wild? Wake up. He's not in the wild. He's in a zoo. Someone captured his mother, she somehow became pregnant (perhaps you forced a male on her?) and had kids.

The "wild" is ever-shrinking. It's entirely possible that the wild won't exist in a few years - the habitat of Polar Bears will become nothing more than "just another place to drill for oil." Will it be ok to raise Knut in a zoo then?. Would that make you change your minds? No, I suspect not. Should we apply your approach to wildlife on a broader scale? Start euthanizing orphans? You, Artful Dodger, come here, I've got something special for you..

Wake up.. Sheesh.. Get your heads out of your asses. Save a polar bear, buy carbon credits.