The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-02-22
BEARS / HAVE MET
Animal Nature in Confinement Silvertp Grizzlies and
Their Ways Fight Between Cinnamon and Black
Bear-Bad Tempered Japanese Brutes-Cyclone, a
Grizzly Cub From Alaska, and His Franks Most
Bears Playful and Fun Loving.


or of the New York Geological Garden
! at the first opportunity, pro bono publ1co.
| The way many small bears in captivity
| (outside of geological collectiOns) are
leased and tortured. is wicked shame;
and no person should ever witness any
| thing of the sort without demonstrating.
Two Japanese bears which We received
last summer direct from Japan, have
been so teased and bullied and abused
that with them fear has become an over
ruling passion. Through it they have
been rendered SO savage that their exhi-
| bition value has been almost completely
destroyed At times their fear of every
thing is even ludicrous. Several times,
one of them has climbed to the top of the
cage work Of his den, seized the top hori-
zontal bar between his teeth, and hung
there from morning until night BY them
an offer Of the most tempting food is con-
sidered a hostile act, and received with
| blows and curses During six months
stay with model companions, amid every
comfort bears could ask, their terror and
bad temper has abated very little, but 1t
| is hoped that eventually we will behold
| in them the dawn Of reason.
These Japanese bears present an ex-
| IRENE case, and one which clearly indi-
Gates naturally nervous, timid and cow
ardly disposition. Such cases are difh-
| cult 10 uedl WILL COWdIu1y du1AudAo e'i =
always getting into the daily reports,
usually through stupid and far-fetched in
! juries to themselves or their compan-
ions. With a courageous, self-rellant,
steady-nerved animal, training to almost
any extent Is possible.
I believe the grizzly could be trained
and handled quite successfully as the
! brown bear of southern Europe, which, by
reason of it's kind and obedient DISPOSE
Of 10 II.
ness.
! BY way of contrast with the terror
stricken Japanese bears, take little Cy-
clone, a grizzly cup from Alaska, who
earned his name by the vigor OF his re-
| sistance of i'll treatment. When MS
mother was fired at, on tlmoereo NIL
side facing Chilkat river, he and MS
brother ran away as fast as their stumpy
little legs could carry them. When they
lcrept where they had last seen her, they
thought her asleep, and Guiding up 4c!ose
against her yet warm body they slept
peacefully until morning.
Before the early morning sun hao
| reached their side Of the mountain, the
two orphans were awakened by the rough
grasp of human hands. Valiantly they DIT
and scratched and baWled aloud WIN
rage.
| One of them made a fight so fierce and
terrible that his nervous captor let hlll
go, and that one is still on the Chlhal.
! Although the other cub fought just as
desnerately, his captor seized him by tna
hind legs. dragged him backwards, occa-
! sionally swung him around his head' ana
kept him generally, engaged until ropes
were procured for binding him.
When finally established, win coilar'
chain and post, in the rear of the saloon
in Porcupine City, biped animals lower
than himself frequently and violently
nrodded the little grizzly with a long
nole Ito see him fight Barely IN tllne
TO save him from insanity, little Cyclohe
was rescued by the friendly hands OF the
geological society's field agent, placed III
a comfortable box, treeo IRON az s't'D0'
ance. and shipped to New YORK.
He was at that time as droll and rogulsh
looking a grizzly cub as ever stepped. III
a grizzly gray full moon OF 11uHy nall wv
hie black eyes sparkled like JET oeaus,
behind a pudgy little nose aosuruly sly
for a bear Excepting for MS nlsn snuu
| ders he was little more than pig Dall VI
o.a1, fur set IN on four posts of the same
Bacterial But his claws were 1ormldaole
and he had the true grizzly spirit.
Tba hears nursery at the New 1ork
zooloeical park is a big yard Win
shade tree, a tree to climb, s"lnnailns
pool, three sleeping dens anu d 'o IN
cliff: 1t never contains IVA Naturally, it
cubs, and sometimes eight Natulalis' ~
i . GOOD test of courage and temper 70
+urn a new bear into that registering
crowd. Usually a newcomer IS psluly
scared during his first day in the nursery
and very tinid during the next. bu. ss ~
) lilies are different ihey alT W. onso of
If courage and devoid OF all sense OIL
: fear. >,,x nov w. G
, When little Cyclones travelling box was
ononnd and he found himself free In the
| nursery, he stalked deliberately to -tne
center of the stage, halted ana calmly
looked about him. HIS air anu hannei
/ said as plainly as English: .
, "I,m a grizzly from Alaska; and I've
come to stay. If any Of you fellows think
there is anything coming to you from me-
come and take 1t!
, Little Car, very saucy but good-na :
, tured European brown bear CUP, walked
nm and aimed sample blow at cyclone
left ear. Quick a flash out snot W
; iclone's right paw, as only grlzly can
, strike and caught the would-be hazer on
I the side of the head. Amazed and con-
! founded, Gar fled in wild haste Next
in order, a black bear cub, twice the
|, size of Cyclone, made pass at the he"
counter charge that he ignomlniously
mit ted the field and scrambled to the top
, of the cliff.
n cyclone conscientiously met every at
b tack real or feigned, that was made
: 11pon him In less than an hour 1t was
+ understood by every DedI III Chc Aoi oei ,
g that that queer-looking gray fellow VIII
O the broad head and short nose coulc
: strike quick and hard. and that he would
n fight any other bear on three seconds no
y tice. From that time on, Cyclones po.
a sition has been assured. He is treated
|, with the respect that a good forearm in
d spires, but being really ne-spirited
I. dignified little grizzly he attacks no one
d and never has had fight.
/. Of our thirty bears (Which represen
= ten species, and all the color variation
d Of the black bear), there are only two
}. which are not playful and fun-loving
n These are the Japanese bears. The keep
n ers and helpers enter all dens save tina
o of the polar bears, without combining thu
d animals in their sleeping dens Although
q life preservers are provided, the broom Il
i the keepers principal weapon. The pola
e bears are not vicious, but. being Yer.
o large, their play is too rough and to-
apt to be deadly. A keeper can not affort
% to have hand torn off by bear, evel
,; in play and so, before the men enter tn
a. den of the polars, the two big fellows ar
Is enticed into their iron shifting cage an
ID locked in
opened the letter out dropped his Howell
A = I. 1-1t