Au Revoir to Flocke the Polar Bear | European Journal

Flocke, the beloved polar bear from Nuremberg’s zoo, is moving out. Along with her companion, Rasputin, Flocke is being transferred to an ocean theme park on the Côte d’Azur. Flocke will be sorely missed by the crowds of visitors who have thronged to Nuremberg’s zoo to see the polar bear in recent years. The celebrity bear, who was born in December 2007, was raised by hand.Now Flocke and Rasputin are headed for the Marineland theme park in the resort town of Antibes in southern France, which is home to Europe’s only seawater polar bear landscape. The polar bear enclosure in the Nuremberg zoo will house Felix – who is Rasputin’s father – and Vera, who is Flocke’s mother. It’s hoped the polar bear couple will produce more offspring for the Nuremberg zoo.