A German zoo has announced that it will hand-raise a polar bear cub after taking the newborn away from its agitated mother on Tuesday.

Officials at the Nuremberg zoo took the four-week-old, yet-unnamed cub from its mother, Vera, after another polar bear at the zoo was believed to have killed and eaten her cubs earlier this week. Zoo keepers said the bear, Vilma, may have killed the cubs because they were sick.

Polar bear Vera has her cub between the legs as it leaves its cave in a zoo in Nuremberg, Germany, on Tuesday. The zoo said it will hand-raise the cub.
(Hans-Martin Issler/AP)

Zoo officials decided to raise the newborn after Vera was seen walking around the enclosure with the cub in her jaws.

"The mother was completely confused," said the zoo's deputy director, Helmut Maegdefrau. "The safety of the young animal is the first priority."

Four keepers are caring for the 1.7 kg baby bear and feeding it high-fat milk every four hours.

Maegdefrau said the cub is "lively, strong and well-fed."

The cub is the first to be raised by keepers since famous polar bear Knut in the Berlin zoo. Knut was rescued in 2006 when his mother rejected him.

The zoo is seeking another motherless polar bear or brown bear cub to raise alongside the newborn.

"That would be the best for the animal's development," Maegdefrau said.

On Wednesday, officials said the cub is probably a female, though because the cub's eyes are not yet open and its sexual organs not yet developed, there is still a chance it could be a boy.

The polar bear is expected to make its public debut by early April.

With files from the Associated Press