Bears as Predators ~

[brotherbear]

California's Day of the Grizzly by William B. Secrest.

"Lassoing Grizzlies Most Dangerous Sport," Lincoln Nebraska Evening News, July 19, 1904:

This bull was the idle of the people. He had amused them for a long time, never failing to kill the bears he was pitted against. He knew his business, this red bull. If one death thrust did not reach home, he had a new one for the next rush.

When they brought him up to the old Franciscan mission the morning of this gala day; everyone shouted and making desperate efforts to loosen the ropes that bound him, was as good as dead already. Only the Indian, who had lassoed the bear and with considerable assistance brought him to town, was willing to bet on the bear. He had nothing but a cayuse ( horse ) and his saddle, and he would have bet that a thousand times over.

We made a great ring in front of the mission, where there was a level place, a great ring of men, women, and children, and here and there a padre. They brought in the bull, with one rope tied to his foreleg. The bear loosened, all but one rope fastened to one of his hind paws. This was to keep him from running away when the red bull began to gore him.

As the bull charged with a mighty bellow, we held our breath and waited. The grizzly was waiting too and reared up on his haunches, looking as big as an abode hut. They came togetherbut the bull's horns did not even ruffle the fur on the bear's chest. Too quick had the bear seized the massive head and held it to the ground. For a moment they swayed there, neither giving nor gaining an inch. As the peons ran up to separate them, the bear struck out quickly with one of his huge paws and tore a gash in the bull's neck. The red fellow, with a growing anger that was terrible, drew back for a second charge. It was as useless as the first. The bear seized and stopped him, holding his head to the ground. Again the peons pulled them apart.

It was a prize fight with regular rounds, this fight of honor of the great general. On the forth or fifth charge the bull gored the bear, but the wound did not seem to disable him greatly. In the seventh round - suppose we call it round - the bear dodged the charge and tore the bull's shoulder terribly. That bear knew his business too.

So the fight went until the bull had charged fifteen, twenty, twenty-one times. Then the commandant put an end to it. It was plain that the bear was going to get the better of the fight, that he would kill the red bull, and that the commandant did not care to afford it. It was indeed a battle royal, and I, for one, was sorry when they tossed a lasso around the bear's neck and slowly strangled him to death. Reply