Bruno Lives On

Germans just can't get enough of their bears -- whether it's the unbearably cute polar cub Knut (since grown into a dangerous adolescent he-bear), or Bruno, the first wild bear to roam Bavaria in 170 years, who was shot in cold blood last summer.

While Knut may soon be getting three siblings to romp around with (Berlin Zoo officials said little ones may be born by Christmas), Bruno will soon have to go it alone. And go it stuffed.

German officials said this week that Bruno is currently being stuffed and is to be put on display next spring at the Natural History Museum, housed in a Munich's royal Nymphenburg palace.

Last year, Bruno, who was officially named JJ1, meandered over the Austrian-German border and developed a habit of prowling around villages and farmyards.

The rogue bear's antics got him in trouble and caught him a bullet in June 2006, even though until JJ1, Bavaria had not seen a wild bear since 1838. Currently, no wild bears live in Germany.

Bruno, bear of Italian origins

Italy has vainly tried to get Bruno's body back since JJ1 was born in 2004 on the Italian flank of the Alps as part of a bear acclimatization project.

Germany, however, has kept its clutches on the wild animal. The state of Bavaria's environment minister, Otmar Bernhard, told Munich's Merkur paper that stuffing the bear would take until January.

But Bruno is surely to be treated royally since his new abode in was formerly home to the kings of Bavaria.

"He won't be cuddly, but he won't be displayed as a brutal monster either. He'll be shown scientifically in a continuum with other animals," Bernhard told DPA news agency. "It will be dignified."

Perhaps Bruno will then get the laurels in death that he missed in life. If not, he'd likely tell museum visitors to go stuff themselves.