Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-01-18

another occasion he avoided dis
aster by shooting from the hip a
leopard which, springing from
bush, was directly in the air
above him.
BY LIEUT.. COL. J. c. FAUNTHORPE,
c. B. f., 4. ID. c.
N India. as in Africa, there are
animals which have obtained an
undeserved reputation for habit
4 ual ferocity. The reason for
this is the fact that in the past,
many books were written by people
who had shot animals, but were ig-
norant of their habits and who were
also inspired by a desire to appear
heroic and to sell their books.
The popular idea that the gorilla
and the African rhinocerOs are essen
TALLY ferocious animals. which will
attack the hunter unprovoked. has
been exploded in the writing of Carl
Z. Akeley.
The animals in India which are
dangerous TO mankind may be di-
Vided into three classes: those which
are dangerous under any circum-
stances; those which take to man
eating, and those which are dan
gerous when wounded, when cor
nered or in defense of their young.
I know only three Indian animals
which l should be sorry to meet If
unarmed and on foot. These are the
solitary male elephant, the sloth
bear. and the solitary Wild boar.
The best judges as to whether an
animal is dangerous or not are the
jungle people who live in the forests
where these animals are found.
Many persons are under the impress
sion that the Indian tiger is the
most dangerous and ferocious of
beasts, and they will be surprised
to learn that the jungle men are
very much more afraid of the sloth
bear and the wild boar than Of the
tiger or leopard.
If you meet a sloth bear, it is just
about an even chance whether he will
go away or go straight for you. In
the government reserve forests of the
Kheri District, in the Lucknow d.
vision of which 1 was recently in
charge, sloth bears were numerous
and in recent years used to Kill
yearly two or three and severely
wound dozen or more men employed
I'm working in the forests. Last year
they appeared to be particularly
numerous
One morning we were looking for
a tigress with cubs, which were
needed for the tiger group in the
American Museum OF Natural His
tory. We could not find them, but
during our search saw no fewer than
six bears, which we did not shoot at
for fear of disturbing the tigress,
which was undoubtedly somewhere
in the neighborhood.
In another district. containing gov
ernment reserve forests, the forest
officer, a friend of mine, went out
one evening to shoot jungle-fowl for
food He had just fired both barrels
of his shotgun when bear ap-
peared, rushed at him, Knocked him
over, and clawed him considerably.
From that time he took a violent dis
like to bears, and every year, when
the rains broke, used to make spe-
cial expedition in order to shoot
them. At that time of the year they
are particularly fond of digging into
ant-hilIs and sucking out the white
ants, and when doing 80 can be
heard at a considera BILE distance and
can be approached without much diff
ficulty. l have walked up to within
Is yards of a bear whose head was
inside an ant-hill and which was
quite unaware of my presence.
Y y
ONE of my own men was very
badly mauled by a bear some
years ago. I was in camp at the base
of some low hills in the Napal Bor-
der In the neighborhoOd were some
tigers, which at night used to walk
down the sandy beds OF the streams
running down these hills. I sent my
shikari (native hunteT) with a local
tharu (aboriginaD UP one of those
dry river beds one morning and l
walked up the next one.
Finding no trace of tigers on my
side, I crossed over a piece of high
ground, In order TO return to camp
by way Of the other ravine, and on
tho way ] came across my shikari
living in a pool of blood. A bear had
first knocked him down with its paw
the long claws raking through scalp
and face, and had then bitten him on
tho face. arm, and leg, INJECTING very
severe wounds, the bite on the face
having splintered one Of the cheek
bones. The local man had run off to
camp to get help.
They had been going up the bed of
the stream. very quietly, looking for
tiger tracks, when they were charged
by the bear, which was in the forest
on top OF the high bank. The bear
could dispose of only one man at a
time, so the local man managed to get
UP a tree. This attack was abso-
lutely unprovoked, and is only one
of many instances which came under
my notice.
Elephants are very much afraid OF
the sloth bear and very few of these
large animals will stand steady when
there is a bear on foot, rushing about
and granting loudly. They will stand
much steadier with wounded tiger.
When a bear is wounded, il rolls
about uttering loud screams. and this