Death by neglect!?

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Another story from MSN - that's where I get most of my info. Can't stand to sit thru a broadcast news program. There is a controversy at a German zoo about the intervention of zookeepers in the case of a baby polar bear who's mother had abandoned her young. The zoo had already decided not to interfere and let one of the cubs die. Now they are hand raising the surviving cub and it is really causing a stir. Part of the reasoning was that if the cubs were in the wild and the mother refused to care for them, they would have already died. The other part was that if they hand raise the cub(s) they would not be able to survive on their own in the wild as adults. I am surprised at this attitude, especially from a zoo. Since polar bears are endangered and losing habitat all the time, I would imagine being released into the wild wouldn't happen in their lifetimes. I thought that the whole point of zoos was to preserve endangered animals, otherwise there wouldn't be any left - anywhere! Maybe I am used to different zoos. I live near both the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal park. They are very conservation-minded. The Wild Animal park has a program - CRES - which is totally devoted to reproducing endangered species so that they may someday be released, and so that they will never become completely extinct. I thought that's what all zoos/animal parks were for!