Because people are just too shocked and outraged by his stance.

I appreciate your point of view and as my comment indicated, I think his tactics are reprehensible. But the question with regard to a good or bad PR stunt remains: would any of us even noticed a campaign that leads with... How can we help animals survive in a changing habitat (?)

I am not sure that lead would have made the blogs like Frank Albrecht and poor cute Knut did. No matter how awful the whole thing sounds, we are all more "aware" of his stance on animals' natural habitats.