Paddington's diet is hard to bear as vegetables are ditched for meat

Published on Saturday 3 May 2008 19:43

NEVER mind the marmalade sandwiches, real bears want steak.

A new film will transform the image of the South American bears which were the model for Paddington bear.

Far from surviving on a diet of vegetables, the spectacled bear of Peru is changing its habits and switching to eating meat.

The BBC film, which is narrated by Stephen Fry, shows how the forest home of the bears is being cleared at an alarming rate.

The destruction of the habitat is thought to be a major reason why the bears, which have always been assumed to survive mainly on nuts and berries are now feeding on the bodies of dead animals.

The BBC Two Natural World film found the shy and retiring creatures, which also live in Ecuador and Columbia, high up in the trees of the Andes. Fry's film, Paddington's Journey To Peru In Reverse, will be shown later this year, one of host of tributes to the enduring appeal of Michael Bond's legendary creation.

However, Paddington has his own problems. The net is closing in on the UK's most famous illegal immigrant. A sneak preview of Bond's first Paddington novel in 29 years, In Paddington Here and Now, shows the authorities finally beginning to take an interest in the famous stowaway.

Bond, 82, discloses that he refused to take a cash advance for the novel in case it did not meet his exacting standards. He said: "I wanted to be sure it worked. If a disaster hadn't befallen Paddington within a few pages, something would have been terribly wrong. But it did."

The Paddington books have sold more than 30 million copies and have been translated into 30 languages.

The new story sees Paddington being taken to a police station after a misunderstanding, where he is questioned about his immigration status.