Bear Booty

Knut's 15 weeks of fame may long be over and the adolescent polar bear has since been relegated to the sidelines by an even cuter Flocke at Nuremberg Zoo, who is also most likely beyond initial polar bear sweetness by now.

But Berlin's most famous animal certainly helped fill the coffers of the city's zoo as some three million people -- 27 percent more than before Knut was born -- flocked to his enclosure in 2007.

Who's your daddy?

The bear's bound to have contributed significantly to the zoo's 6.8 million-euro ($10.6 million) net profit last year. But the exact figure is what folks at Neumuenster's zoo are interested in. That's because Knut's father, Lars, belongs to that zoo and was loaned to Berlin for procreation.

As part of the deal, Neumuenster secured itself the rights to Lars' first, third and fifth living offspring, according to reports. Berlin doesn't dispute the fact and says that Knut belongs to the northern German zoo. The additional revenue, however, is an entirely different matter.

"Our lawyers have told us that the zoo in Neumuenster has no rights to our revenue," a Berlin zoo spokesperson told AP news service.

Repa(i)ration money

Knut's ancestral zoo isn't giving up so quickly. Officials in Neumuenster claim that Berlin refused to discuss a friendly settlement of the matter and that's why they've now taken the matter to court and filed a legal petition to force disclosure of how much money the Berlin zoo earned as a result of Knut.

"Our zoo could really use the Knut-generated money for desperately needed repairs," said Neumuenster's zoo director, Peter Druewa.

Knut himself could not be reached for comment on the matter.