The Daily Alaska empire., 1933-09-13
THE "GENTLEMANLY" BEAR.

Various advocates of the Alaska brown bear ln- cluding Steward Edward White Arthur N Peck and John M Holzworth, have referred to that great animal as "gentlemanly' brute. In theT oplnion he is a fellow who has for his motto: Live ana Let Live" That has been their personal experlence with hears We do not desire to say they have not seen the bear in his native habitat They have But they have seen only the daylight side The brown bear they have encountered has been the one who roams the open beaches in search of 1ooo' maybe at play or just out meandering; the bear on the open creeks he fishes for salmon Tn the spawning streams. They have yet to encounter the same animal in the tangled underbrush the devil club and blueberry thickets, the massed growth around windfalen timber The gentleman they encountered in the open may be rufflan Tn cover.
 Alaskans know that all too we'll They have seen too many torn and battered men, some of them mere shells of clay, who have encountered the noble" beast in whose behalf sentimentalists have written and spoken and emerged maned and scared for life, if they were lucky enough to have escaped death.
 Alaskans know better than anyone that not every brown bear is killer Many probably most, of them are the gentlemen" unfraid that their de- lenders depict But. some are not, Some of them are nurdering brutes. No clearer demonstration of that fact is needed than in the unproyoked assault on Capt. Christ Cayafas who now lies in a local hospital sorely injured. If he recovers, as his physician thinks is possible he will be maimed for life and take to the grave the scars from wounds inflicted by bear whose attack was unproVoKeo. Capt Cayafas was unarmed He had opportunity to molest the brute that attacked him He was casually walking in the woods when he was over whelmed He hadn't seen the bear that assailed him. Maybe he surprised the bear as much as the bear did him. It is not impossible that the brute had no warning of his coming What of 1t? Are men to abandon the forests to forego pleasure jaunts in the hills prospecting in them, just because of the bear? Of course not!
 
 We think it is time for those extremists on the bear question to revise their views. If they will study the record of the past few years, they, as most Aaskans do will recognize that some of the bears they champion are dangerous They will admit that it is not possible for anyone to say what bear is "genteman" and which murderer. They will agree that any person whose calling takes him into the hills ought to be on the alert and prepared to defend himself. Not only that but that he has an inaienable right to defend himself Even if one knew what bear is innocuous and what a menace it would not be possible to identity the harmless from the harmful. They cannot De marked football players are. Each Of them must be regarded as potentially fatal risk and the same precautions taken that the prudent man would use to protect himself from human slayer.
 Of course, there will be some who doubt that Capt Cayafas unarmed; that he didn't malic- ously provoke the attack that almost cost him his life It is human nature for those whose theories are upset to question the evidence that upset them That is the unfortunate part of game regulation in Alaska Outsiders have too much to say about what regulations imposed. They regard Alaska's game resources as a national possession. And they resent any effort to bring it under local control This feeling brings them into the error of regarding Alaskans as destructionists
 That is far from the truth We knowing that bears are destructive of human life, nevertheless do not seek to wipe out the bear population We realize his worth from the scientific viewpoint as well as from the sporting viewpoint Scientifically brown bears deserve to be perpetuated. AS a draw ing card for hunters and camera hunters from the States he is unmatched. Upon both grounds he is entitled to protection.
 So are human beings. That is the point that the extremists of conservationists fail to recognize Maybe the unprovoked and unpreventable attack upon Capt. Cayafas will make them see it. It is a high price to pay for it and probably it is more