"Jahrtausendwinter"ist..., wenn selbst Anton einschneit

"Während in den meisten deutschen Orten die Einwohner immer noch auf eine weiße Weihnacht hoffen, ist in Stuttgart offensichtlich die komplette Schneeladung für Deutschland vom Himmel gefallen. Innerhalb von wenigen Minuten ist der Liebling aller Stuttgarter, Eisbär Anton, komplett eingeschneit." -

While in most German towns, inhabitants still hope for a white Christmas, Stuttgart has obviously got all the snow loads straight coming from the sky which originally was supposed to fall all over Germany. Within a few minutes, Stuttgart's dearest darling, polar bear Anton, was completely covered by snow."

15:01

15:02

15:04

"Im Moment buddeln hunderte Freiwillige das hilflose Tier aus, hoffen wir das Beste." -

"At the moment hundreds of volunteers are trying to dig up the helpless animal, let's hope for the best."


Ok, I admit, 13 years of living on a remote island in the middle of the Indian Ocean with temperatures at 13 ° and 16°C at their lowest in our winter season which is summer season in the northern hemisphere, have taken its toll. First thought...this must be photoshopped (and by the way where is all the snow falling directly from the sky..I mean the snow flakes as there certainly must have been some between 15:01 and 15:04...?)

After checking the latest weather report I thought, oh my, poor poor Anton, this will certainly go around, becoming gossip within the polar bear community, imagine how all the Vitus'es and Knutis will crack up, not even imagining the ladies...A polar bear who has to be digged out of snow by humans...! Then I thought, what if the volunteers don't get him out, will he be able to dig his own rescue tunnel, remember it was Vitus and not Anton who has worked hard on these competencies (now we know why...!!)...

I still have no clue if this story was made up by Jens, if yes, certainly inspired by pics like this one, in order to entertain us in these hard times when snow shoveling becomes again the order of the day (for those who have no intention of shoveling the next coming 3 months, just get on a plane with destination Rodrigues, daytime temperatures at 28°C, no snow guaranteed!) and then you can even think about why in the wild it is common practice for polar bears to allow the snow to cover them...

Anyway - I will certainly be visiting Jens blog again tomorrow just to see if he could also take photos of the rescue operation involving hundreds of volunteers, I am looking forward to see Anton's face when they approach him...!!!

Source and photo credits:
- Jahrtausendwinter/Jens Blog 02.12.2010

Related posting:
- Vitus und seine Erdmädels...The Tunnel project/22.02.2010