Knut the Polar Bear May Be Stuffed and Immortalized at Berlin Museum

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Knut made his first public appearance with his keeper at the Berlin Zoo in 2007

Markus Schreiber / File / AP

Even in death, the world’s most famous polar bear can’t escape the spotlight.

On March 23, it emerged that the deceased polar bear could be stuffed and put on display in Berlin’s Natural History Museum. “It is true that our taxidermists are working on his corpse and have removed his fur,” Gesine Steiner, a spokeswoman for the museum, told Bloomberg. “We haven’t yet made a decision on whether we will stuff him and exhibit him. We have to talk to the zoo. We do, of course, have lots of stuffed zoo animals on show here.”

(More on TIME.com: See the top 10 heroic animals.)

Four-year-old Knut — who shot to fame after his mother rejected him, prompting his human keepers to rear him themselves — passed away in his enclosure at the Berlin Zoo on March 19. Three veterinarians began examining the 661-lb. animal on March 22, with a taxidermist present to ensure that Knut’s fur remained intact.

Plans to stuff the bear have left some people in dismay. “To stuff Knut is to abuse the feelings of millions of Knut fans all over the world,” one fan, Horst Krause, wrote in the zoo’s online condolences book. “Knut deserves a worthy burial.” (via New York Post)

See pictures of Knut and other celebrity polar bears.