OF WILD ANIMALS 129 



The little Malay sun bear is the most savage and unsatis- 

 factory. 



The Lesson of the Polar and Grizzly. The polar 

 bears of the north, and the Rocky Mountain grizzlies, a hundred 

 years ago were bold and aggressive. That was in the days of 

 the weak, small-bore, muzzle-loading rifles, black powder and 

 slow firing. Today all that is changed. All those bears have 

 recognized the fearful deadliness of the long-range, high-power 

 repeating rifle, and the polar and the grizzly flee from man at 

 the first sight of him, fast and far. No grizzly attacks a man 

 unless it has been attacked, or wounded, or cornered, or thinks 

 it is cornered. As an exception, Mr. Stefansson observed two 

 or three polar bears who seemed to be quite unacquainted with 

 man, and but little afraid of him. 



The great California grizzly is now believed to be totally 

 extinct. The campaign of Mr. J. A. McGuire, Editor of Outdoor 

 Life Magazine, to secure laws for the reasonable protection of 

 bears, is wise, timely and thoroughly deserving of success 

 because such laws are now needed. The bag limit on grizzlies 

 this side of Alaska should be one per year, and no trapping 

 of grizzlies should be permitted anywhere. 



The big brown bears of Alaska have not yet recognized the 

 true deadliness of man. They have vanquished so many 

 Indians, and injured or killed so many white men that as yet 

 they are unafraid, insolent, aggressive and dangerous. They 

 need to be shot up so thoroughly that they will learn the 

 lesson of the polars and grizzlies, — that man is a dangerous 

 animal, and the only safe course is to run from him at first 

 sight. 



Bears Learn the Principles of Wild Life Protection. 

 Ordinarily both the grizzlies and black bears are shy, sus- 

 picious and intensely "wild" creatures; and therefore the quick- 

 ness and thoroughness with which they learn that they are in 

 sanctuary is all the more surprising. The protected bears of 

 the Yellowstone Park for years have been to tourists a source of 



