What is Thomas Dörflein?
[[Image:Thomas Doerflein.jpg|thumb|Thomas Dörflein in 2007]] '''Thomas Dörflein''' (13 October 1963 – 22 September 2008)<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/22/zookeeper-thomas-doerflei_n_128358.html |title=Zookeeper Thomas Doerflein, Who Hand-Reared Knut, Found Dead |work=huffingtonpost.com |year=2011 |accessdate=19 March 2011}}</ref> was a [[Germans|German]] [[zookeeper]] at the [[Berlin]] [[Zoo]] for 26 years. He became a [[celebrity]] after he took care of the [[polar bear]] cub [[Knut (polar bear)|Knut]], who had been abandoned by his mother shortly after his birth in 2006. In 2007, Dörflein was awarded the Medal of Merit by the city of [[Berlin]] for helping to raise Knut.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/23/germany.endangeredspecies |title=Zookeeper who hand-reared Knut the polar bear is found dead &#124; World news &#124; guardian.co.uk |work=[[The Guardian]] |publisher=[[Guardian Media Group|GMG]] |location=[[London, England|London]] |issn=0261-3077 |oclc=60623878 |accessdate=19 March 2011}}</ref> ==References== {{Reflist}} {{bio-stub}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Dorflein, Thomas}} [[Category:1963 births]] [[Category:2008 deaths]] [[Category:Deaths from myocardial infarction]] [[Category:People from Berlin]] [[Category:Zoos in Germany]]