Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1910-05-19
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.
istencs on the Slightest Provoeat;on
and Will Fight to the Death-A eat.
tile With Jaguar.
During one Of his journeys into Mex
leo Edward W. Walton. a mining en-.
pert. had close call from being sliced
to shreds by the fierce little S0mth
American pigs known as peccnries lie
told the story Of his escape tn n Den.
yer Post reporter.
II wished to secure some plumcs
from number of tn. l~autifuIly plum.
aged birds" said Mr. Walton. II went
into the jungle and came to a sl,nls
opening III which there were dry
leaves. probably foot In depth. cs,s-
ering the ground. and hundreds 0t
beautifully colored tropical birds II
the air and in the trees. fred nj 0nA
Of the birds In flight. when 1t seemed
to me the whole area Of these tipu.l
leaves arose in front of and nll around
me. Being stranger. naturally 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 Il dirk knife.
and some of them started toward me.
lmpulsfvely ] commenced firing INV
gun in the air and turned around.
which seemed TO stop most Of them
momentarily. and as ! had lots Of ear
trfdges kept up the shooting amt
they turned and ran away found
afterward that had saved my life
by so doing and by not shooting any-Of
the animals
''1hese animals proved to be pecra.
rics. They are most fercious and will
attack any animal in existence on the
slightest provocation. When l gs.t
back 10 headquarters and told my com.
panions my experience was Informed
that had shot one of the animals md
made him squeal the whole bunch
would have been on me and would
have torn me TO pieces quickly. They
have been known to kill BEARS jaguars.
cattle. horses and any number of dogs.
Although in the fight scores Of their
number might he killed. they seem to
have no fear when once aroused
IL was told the pcccaries burrow un-
Ter the dry leaves to protect them.
selves from mosquitoes and other
winged pests of that hot country. MY
friends had many exciting experiences
to tell In regard to these ferocious lit
tie animals. Que Of this party. white
travelling with companion In w:,g.
OIL. stopped for lunch under some trees
aud turned their horses out to Craze.
While at lunch large bunch of lNc-
carries appeared. and they thought II
would be nice to shoot among them
and get one or two for meat. SO they
fired into them. wounding several.
which commenced to squeai. Then the
whole bunch made an attack The men
climbed quickly into the wagon anu
kept on shooting su long us the ann
munition which they had in their
pockets listed. AS they were opening
their bags to get out more ammunition
the peccajes climbed up the tongue
Of the wagon aud jumped into it, aud
jumping on to the seat and then OH 10
limbs of the trees. the ppccaries taking
possession of the wagon and tearing
things to pieces. They remained In
possession for hours. the men watching
them from safety III the trees"
The l,eccary. or South American Wild
boar. is the smallest of his species. av-
eraging about three feet long. nor is
the animal possessed of any unus,lat
degree of strength. 10 make up for
the natural individual deficiencies in
combat with the more powerful aul.
mails of the jungle the peccaries al.
ways travel In large herds. When olico
attacked by herd of peccaries tho
outcome is nearly always death to their
enemy. The little pigs are armed w:,h
short sharp tusis. aud 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 in tropical and South
American countries tell of fierce ell
counters between the peccaries and the
jaguar. the monster cut which Is lord
Va AuS uC JN6uAt uAS a. $OiISA-
ness FOR dinner of pork. but whole.
some respect for the power of Il herd
of wild pigs. When he wants IT, snt-
isfy his cravings for pork diet he
drops from limb Of Il tree on To tho
back of straggler In the pe'.cary
herd. The jaguar Stays his victim, aud
then retreats hastily to his tree Lee
fore the herd can get at him. When
the herd grows tired Of waiting for
him 10 come down and moves aiOng
The jaguar descends and enjoys bic
meal ut leisure Frederick Selous In
his romance of the animal world has
an Interesting account Of tight be
tween jaguar and herd Of pee.
carries. The peccaries had the jagnar
freed on the limb of tree from which
the bark had rotted away. He was
only few feet above them and by
harassing and jumping ut their enemy
finally succeeded in bringing the con-
6ict to the ground. After the fight
was over there were eleven killed ana
wounded peccaries. but the jaguar was
literally torn to pieces.
Same Thinu Now,