Schnute, a 34-year-old brown bear, has been put to sleep at Berlin's Köllnischer Park, where she had lived as the city's official bear.
The bear is the symbolic guardian of Berlin, and has for decades featured on the city's coat of arms. But animal rights campaigners have fought for years to abolish the practice of keeping a bear in the city centre, and wanted to have Schnute rehomed in a more spacious enclosure. A spokesperson for the Berlin Mitte district said, 'With Schnute's death, 76 years of keeping bears in Berlin's city centre comes to an end.' Read more: thelocal.de
