Knut the polar bear won hearts around the world after his furry antics at the Berlin Zoological Gardens catapulted him to international fame, but his ongoing popularity is stopping the late bear's right to rest in peace thanks to a controversial new memorial -- and it has animal rights groups up in arms, Breaking Celebrity News is exclusively reporting.

Born in 2007, the cub became an instant celebrity  -- and he was always happy to perform for the hoards of fans who brought him birthday cakes and stuffed toys. As one of the the most commercially-successful animals in history, Knut also hit it big in Hollywood after appearing on the cover of Vanity Fair with Leonardo DiCaprio as a symbol of UN climate change!

Even after the young bear tragically drowned in his enclosure following a mysterious seizure in 2011 at age four, the German people couldn't say goodbye and the darling of the zoological world has been brought back to life in a super creepy full-sized model sculpture covered in Knut's own pelt , reported the Guardian.co.uk.

"It's important to make clear we haven't had Knut stuffed," Berlin's natural history museum spokeswoman Gesine Steiner stressed. "Rather, this is a plastic form, true to the original and covered with Knut's very own fur."