Flocke “Snowflake” The German Polar Bear Baby

The hordes expected to visit Germany’s latest polar bear cub sensation, Snowflake at the zoo in Nuremberg, didn’t materialize over the holiday weekend, as people were put off by all the hype.

The low attendance figures could be a hard blow for zoo officials, who had reckoned with record attendance based on the crowds that descended on Berlin last year to visit Germany’s original celebrity polar bear cub, Knut. Visitors may have avoided Snowflake, or Flocke in German, because they didn’t want to deal with the crowds expected to come see the baby bear, Nuremberg zoo spokeswoman Nicole Mögel told German news agency DDP. “It could seem a bit daunting,” Mögel told DDP, which reported that she seemed at a loss. Just 30,000 people visited the Nuremberg zoo over the warm and sunny three-day Pentecost holiday weekend. When zoo officials introduced Snowflake to the world – and 430 journalists – five weeks ago, Director Dag Encke said he anticipated up to 25,000 visitors a day..............