Thomas Dörflein

Clachan Thomas ( born October 13, 1963 in Berlin-Wedding; † September 22, 2008 in Berlin- Wilmersdorf ) was a German zookeepers at the Berlin Zoo Berlin, which received international attention in 2007 by the rearing of polar bear Knut.

Life and work

Little village grew up in Berlin -Spandau. Since 1982 he worked as an orderly in the Berlin Zoological Garden. After three years of vocational training, he initially received a temporary contract, which was later converted into a permanent position. Initially, he was responsible for apes and carnivores. Since 1987, he served as station keepers overseeing the bear and wolf enclosure.

On 5 December 2006, two polar bears were at the zoo for the first time in over 30 years was born. However, the mother violated the offspring, whereby one of the boys died after four days. The Zoodirektion decided to leave the surviving boy raise by hand-rearing by clachan. Little village was in the first months of its intensive care, the most important person of the polar bear and gave him the name " John". The raising of the polar bear was under a lot of media interest, also reinforced clachan came in consequence to the attention of the public.

For its use in the rearing of polar bears little village was awarded on 1 October 2007 with the Berlin Merit. In addition, he was immortalized along with Knut on a silver lettering of the coin Berlin. In December 2007, readers voted him the Berliner Morgenpost and the listeners of the radio station 94.3 rs2 most popular Berlin. The public appeal awarding of two television awards ( Golden Hen and Bambi ) rejected the keepers.

Death

In April 2008, doctors diagnosed at clachan first bladder cancer. However, he died September 22, 2008 suddenly of a heart attack, caused by thrombosis. On October 10, 2008 clachan was buried in the cemetery in the immediate family in the Kisseln in Berlin- Spandau.

In honor of the deceased e of the Promotion of Tierpark Berlin Zoo and the V. "Thomas clachan Award" was instituted, to be awarded the earned annually keepers. Posthumously, he was awarded the " Bear " of the BZ awarded as a prize for the rearing of polar bear Knut.

Filmography

Posthumously

• 2010: Knut - A polar bear is semi- strong