The daily Alaskan., 1909-12-07
THE VICIOUS PECCARY
A Fierce Creature Is the South
 American Wild Boar.
HE IS SMALL, BUT FEARLESS
will Attack Man or Any Animal In Ex- istenoe on Che Slightest Revocation and WiII Fight to the Death-A Bat tIe With a J0guar,

NakGIkE HIN hf'N e'N s'NhHaf D
 and Win Fight to the Death-A Bat
 tIs With a J0suar,
 During one of his journeys Into Mex leo Edward W Walton. a mining eX- pert. had close call from being sliced to shreds by the fierce little South American pigs known as pcccorics. He told the story Of his escape Co Den' yer Post reporter
 "I wished Co secure some plumes from a number of the beautifully plum aged birds" suid MT Walton. "I went into the jungle and came to small openlng n which there were dry leaves. probably a foot in depth, GOV erlng the ground, and hundreds of beautifully colorcd tropical birds in the air and In the trees. fired at one of the birds in flight. when 1t seemed to me the whole area Of these dead leaves arose In front oC and an around me. Being a stranger, naturally l was
 much frightened. especially when saw the animals which raised up the . leaves apparently ready for an attack. The older animals opened and closed their mouths. showing their big. sharp tusks. formed much like a dirk knife, and some of them started toward me. Impulsively commenced firing my gun In thc air and turned around, which seemed Co stop most of them momeDtarly, and as had lots of car. tridgcs ! kept up the shooting, and they turned and ran away. found a'terward that had saved my lie by SO doing and by not shooting any of the animals.
 "Tbcse animals proved to be pecca. ries They are most ferocious and will attack any animal in existence on the slightest provocuuou When got back Co headquarters and told my com. panions my experience | was informed that bad shot one of the animals and
 made him sQueal the whole bunch would have bccu on me and would have torn me Co pieces quickly. They have been known to kin bears, jaguars, cattle. horses and any number of dogs. ! Although in the fight scores of their number might be killed. they seem to have no fear when once aroused.
 "I was told the poccaries burrow un- der the dry leaves to protect them . selves from mosquitoes and other
 winged pests Of that bot country. My
 friends had many exciting experiences ! to tell in regard Co these fcrocious lit- tie animals. One of this party, while travelling with a companion in a wag- on, stopped for lunch under some trees and turned their horses out tO graze. While at lunch a large bunch of pee carries appeared. and they thought it
 would be nice to shoot among them and get ouc or two for meat, so they fired into them wouudiug several.
 which commenced to sQueaL Then the whole bunch made an attack. The men ! climbed quickly into the wagon and
 kept on shooting so long as the am intuition which they had in their pockets lasted As they were opening their bags to get out more ammunition the pcccaries climbed up the tongue of the wagon and jumped into 1t, and
 the men saved themselves only by . Jumping on to tbe seat and then on to limbs of the trees. the pcccaries taking . possession of the wagon and tearing things to pieces. They remained in . possession for hours, the men watching them from safety In the trees"
 The peccary, or South American wild
 boar. is the smallest of his species, av- eragIug about three feet long, nor is
 the animal possessed of any unusual degree of strength To make up for the natural individual deficiencies in combat with the more powerful anI-
 mals of the jungle the peccories al- ways travel iu large herds. When once attacked by a herd of peccarics the outcome is nearly always death to their enemy. The little pigs are armed with short sharp tusEs, and no matter how
 great the slaughter of their own num- { Der during the melee the herd stay on
 the job until the work is finished.
 ! Travellers lu tropical and South
 American countries tell of fierce en- counters between the peccaries and the
 jaguur. the monster cat which is lord
 of tbe forest. Tue jaguar has a fond
 uess for dinner of pork but whole some respect for the power of herd
 of wild pigs When be wants to sat . isfy his cravings for a pork diet he . drops from a limb of a tree on to the
 back of a str0ggler in the peccary
 herd The jaguor stays his victim and
 then retreats hastily to his tree be-
 fore the herd can get at him. When
 the herd grows tired of waiting for
 him Co come down and moves along
 the jaguar desceuGs and enjoys his
 meal at leisure. Frederick Selous in . his romance of thc animal world has
 an interesting account of a fight be-
 tween a jaguar and a herd of pee
 carries. The peccaries had the jaguar l treed on the limb of tree from which
 the bark had routed away He was
 only a few feet above them and by ! horasslng and jumping at their enemy
 finally succeeded In bringing the con-
 fict to the ground. After the fight