Bears as Predators ~

[brotherbear]

The California Grizzly - bear in mind - from the collections of the Bancroft Library:

Sometimes bulls were pitted against bears, the bears generally coming out victorious. I witnessed an event in Santa Barbara in which a bear killed three bulls, one after the other. For these fights they tied the beasts by one paw and sometimes they tied two together by the forepaws, leaving them a lot of rope. Under these conditions they fought to a frenzy. The usual thing was to leave the bull loose. He would generally attack first, and the bear would be defending itself. When the bull came at it, the bear would put its forepaw on his forehead and grab him by the leg and hold him as though he were a piece of straw. In this way the bear overcame him, making him lower his head. When he bellowed, it grabbed his tongue, and then it would be necessary to separate them so that the bear would not immediately kill the bull. There were occasions on which the bull killed the bear with his horns, but this was only if the bear was badly injured after having been tied down tightly in a cart and brought over a long distance. Reply