For the past year visitors to Berlin Zoo have been waiting for the moment that Knut, the celebrity polar bear, lost his cuddliness and started to maul other animals or even his faithful keeper. Instead, humans are turning on other humans. A fierce power struggle has erupted in the management of the zoo about how to deal with Knut as a global brand.

After a board meeting that turned into a shouting match, the zoo has lost Gerald Uhlich, its finance director, who is credited with turning Knut into the most famous polar bear in the world. The move could mark the beginning of the end of the Cult of Knut.

Mr Uhlich positioned Knut as a mascot for the climate protection movement, the symbol of a species threatened by melting ice-caps. The bear even made it on to the cover of Vanity Fair with Leonardo DiCaprio and an iceberg or two.

“I have nothing to be ashamed of,” said Mr Uhlich, 51, who was formerly a financial expert in engineering. “The zoo has become profitable and it has gained a very positive image in Germany and across the world.”

More than two million people have visited Knut since he was born in troubled circumstances a year ago. Zoo attendance figures are expected to be up by about 30 per cent this year, which makes it the most profitable since it was established 163 years ago.

The zoo's marketing machine around Knut was huge: T-shirts, seven pop-songs, a bestselling children's book, jigsaw puzzles, games, posters and toys have been doing well on the back of free publicity that accompanied each of the little bear's crises. All his landmark events brought a new surge in sales of Knut memorabilia. Mr Uhrich set up a holding company to channel the various franchises, called RespectHabitat.knut. But Bernhard Blaszkiewitz, the director of the zoo, became increasingly nervous that it was being turned into a one-bear circus.

“We have 14,000 animals,” he said. “It has become a bit of a theatre, a pandemonium.” Mr Blaskiewitz clearly felt that more of the increased income should be earmarked for the eastern Berlin branch, the Tierpark, which can survive only with the help of shrinking subsidies from the city administration.

Other zoologists have been warning that the Knut cult should end, above all because there was a distinct trend in the media to humanise the bear.

Going Knuts

— In April sweets company Haribo released rasberry flavoured Knut sweets

— German toymaker Steiff have a special collection of Knut stuffed toys

— The first 2,400 Knut stuffed toys produced by the zoo sold out in 4 days

— In April he shared the cover of Vanity Fair magazine with Leonardo DiCaprio

— He has made more than £7 million for the zoo

Source: Times archives

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