CELEBRATED BEARS 47 



this, when being fed, he caught the keeper's 

 hand and bit it completely off at the wrist! 

 Since then Pete has been kept in solitary con- 

 finement, for not once since the episode with 

 the Italian has he ever shown the slightest 

 signs of gentleness or amiability. Whether 

 the three bullets, which are still in his body, 

 have anything to do with this, of course, we 

 do not know, but there is a possibility. 



This sudden change of disposition in wild 

 animals is constantly showing itself. In the 

 New York Zoological Park there are three 

 Syrian bears in one den. These are consid- 

 ered, in some ways, the most amiable of the 

 bear tribe, and it is generally Syrian bears 

 whom the Italians and Frenchmen train to 

 dance at the end of a pole. The big bear in 

 this den, Czar, had always been considered a 

 fairly good tempered bear, but quite suddenly 

 in May of 1906 Czar nearly killed his keeper 

 and since then has given many indications of 

 viciousness. 



Caesar is a black bear in this same park 

 who has quite a history. He was presented to 



