The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1911-12-14
MAN THE TERROR OF ANIMALS.
Ferocious Beasts Rarely Fight Unless
They are Pressed.

with the camera, has returned from
successful expedition to the Kenal
peninsula, bringing back pictures Of
the giant moose of Alaska, and of
the white mountain sheep, the owls
DALI, found only in the northland.
The moose pictures complete set
which Mr.. Shiras began years ago
and which took him to the woods of
Maine, New Hampshire, New Bruns-
wick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba,
Idaho and Wyoming.
Incidentally he added largely to his
collection Of otter, porcupine, mar
mots and birds, such as the arctic
tern, shags, gulls, eagles, willow and
rock ptarmigan, spruce grouse and
ducks
Mr.. Shiras went to Alaska during
the first week in July and visited that
part Of the northern district lying
thirty miles back of Seward and
along the Kenai and Shilac lakes.
The long experience of Mr. Shiras
in the wilderness has led him to the
conclusion that the savage beasts"
written of by the nature takers are
mostly mythical.
'The almost daily reports OF the
man chasing and devouring wolf,'
the fierce lynx, the savage bear,
the terrible cougar and the re
vengefuP bull moose excite wonder
ment," said Mr.. Shiras, 'but in my
humble judgment all such blood
curdling attributes are unfounded
and mendacious in nearly every par
ticular.
after a personal experience of
more than thirty-five years in the
American wilderness, from the Gulf
of Mexico to the Hudson bay waters
and to Alaska, and especially
throughout the range of those par
ticular animals, I think it would be
safe to say that more persons are
injured or killed through attacks of
domestic animals in confinement in
a single season, than by all the wild
animals of the forest in fifty years.
'True, it is that the grizzly bear,
badly wounded or defending it's
young, may occasionally show fight,
but the old day when the powerful
animal voluntarily stood it's ground is
gone forever, at least in every dis
trict where the repeating rife has
taught the lesson of the mans over
powering mastery.
"The pestiferous mosquito or black
fly may force the bravest hunter to
retreat, but no man need ever hesi-
tate to go unarmed into any so-called
wilderness resorts of his country for
fear of menacing beasts.
"The more dangerous the suppos-
ed traits of any particular animal
the more the certainty Of it being
the one now most fearful Of mans
presence, whatever may be its atti-
tude toward the other animals OF
the forest. To this one fact alone
does this predaceous quadruped now
owe it's existence, for were it to meet,
instead of retreat from the man with
the gun, the end would have long
ago been reached"
Mr.. Shiras has shown by his work
that better information may be OBJ
tanned and more accurate conclusions
can be reached with one season of
the camera hunting and with oppor-,
tunity to study at close range than
will ever be reached where the crack
of the rifle almost always follows
the appearance of wild game.
Several years ago magazine car
ried an interesting story of flash
lighting beasts. The pictures were
of the Yellowstone Park bear taken
under conditions which showed the
primal forest in the background. Mr..
Shiras says this was nature taking
of the most deceptive kind for the
reason that the Yellowstone Park
bears are semi domesticated and are
so one may approach within a few
feet without soaring them off.
81 desired to show the park bears
as nature takers did not show them,
surrounded by garbage cans and
scraps from the hotel,' said Mr.. Shi-
ras. 81 set up moving picture ma
chine near a group of the animals
which were feeding near one Of the
hotels. Several bears thinking that
the moving picture machine con-
tained jam or some sweets not found
among the scraps, came forward to
investigate.
1T is necessary to have the object
at least fifteen feet away when TAX
ing moving pictures, so I was forced