MAULED TO DEATH.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 209, 5 September 1939, Page 12

MAULED TO DEATH.

FEEDING BEARS.

DAUGHTER AND SON PRESENT. CANADIAN ZOO TRAGEDY. QUEBEC, August 5. Two shaggy ]>ola<r 'bears mauled Dr. Joseph Germain to death at a zoo near here as he was attempting to feed them peanuts. The tragedy was witnessed by the physician's 22-year-old daughter, a young son and a nephew, all on a holiday trip from Rimouski, Quebec.

As the doctor was standing by the cage, one of the animals, brought to the zoo in 1935 from the Canadian Arctic, reached its paw through the bars and pinned him against the cage. The other bear also reached through the bars and caught his body on the other side. They mauled Dr. Germain for several minutes as his son frantically threw gravel in the animals' eyes in an effort to get them to break their hold.

The doctor's arm was torn to ribbons and his thighs and legs lacerated. The keys to his automobile were found in the bears' pond inside the cage. Bits of clothing and articles from his pocket lay on the cage floor. A coroner's verdict of accidental death was returned and the bears were removed to an isolated part of the zoo. An ironic touch to the tragedy was the sign hanging over the cage warning visitors. "Do not feed the bears." — Canadian Press.

Lovers of asparagus at a dinner should search through the menu for the word "argentcuil." The name signifies a section of France where asparagus is cultivated and is said to be had at its best.