Humans and bears - Wild encounters

[brotherbear]

The Grizzly Bear... The following year, however, in Godman's "Natural History" we come upon an interesting document. The author, after saying that the grizzly bear "slaughters indiscriminately every creature whose speed or artifice is not sufficient to place them beyond his reach," mentions two grizzly bear cubs that had, some time before, been kept alive in the menagerie of Peale's ( afterward the Philadelphia ) Museum. "When first received, they were quite small, but speedily gave indications of that ferocity for which this species is so remarkable. As they increased in size they became exceedingly dangerous, seizing and rearing to pieces every animal they could lay hold of, and expressing great eagerness to get at those accidentally brought within sight of their cage by grasping the iron bars with their paws and shaking them violently, to the great terror of spectators, who felt insecure while witnessing such displays of their strength.    Reply