Grim Fight To Free Boy From Attacking Bears

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28490, 21 January 1958, Page 7

Grim Fight To Free Boy From Attacking Bears

(New Zealand Press Association)

NAPIER, January 20. Two men fought a grim 10jninute battle at League Park, Napier, yesterday afternoon, attempting to fight off three bears that were chewing at an 11-year-old boy’s hands through a ventilation gap at the top of a circus cage. The boy was rushed to the Napier Public Hospital, suffering from a seriously mauled right hand, lesser injuries to the left hand and deep cuts and scratches on both arms. The boy. Peter Lawrence, of Wanganui, was reported today to be in a fairly satisfactory condition and no longer suffering from shock. Part of two fingers and the thumb of his right hand have • been amputated. i The bears were secure in a cir- • cus cage on wheels, boarded all ’’ round except for a ventilation gap » at the top of the cage. ’ Lawrence, who was staying in J Napier with his uncle, Mr J. J. • Roddy, of Ferguson avenue, j climbed up the boards with three . other boys, hanging on to the side • of the cage by placing their hands through the ventilation gap. [ Visitors to the circus area were i startled to hear a boy scream: “It’s ‘ got me by the hand.” One of those J nearby, Mr Patrick Ward, of • Sylvan road, Hastings, went to the J boy’s assistance. Boy’s Scream ■ **l was walking past the bears’ ; cage after looking at the elephants J when I heard the scream,” Mr • Ward said this morning. “I J cimbed up the cage as fast as I I could, and when I saw that one • of the bears had the boy by the [ hand I yelled for something to • fight it off. Somebody handed me J a 10-inch iron bar. Meanwhile, • the other boys had climbed down • from the cage. j “I held Lawrence’s arm firmly ; to prevent the bear from pulling \ it further into the cage, and I » was trying to prod the bears off, • but the iron bar was not long enough.” Mr Ward said that one of the circus attendants then rushed up . and began to loosen the boards at ; the, bottom of the cage. Havingj done so, the attendant began fight- » ing off the bears with another • iron bar, working from below. ’ Meanwhile. Mr Ward was handed • a longer bar. J “It was a desperate, hectic 10- ’ minute battle which to me seemed ? like several hours,” said Mr Ward ■ “As one of the bears was pushed ’ off, another would come back to

the attack. Eventually a bear partly let go of the boy’s hand, and I pulled his arm out of the ventilation gap quickly. The boy’s hancs and arms were bleeding profusely, and I knew that he had suffered serious injury.” Mr Ward said that during his ordeal,the boy behaved courageously. “Except for his first scream that a bear had grabbed his hand, he did not yell during the 10minute fight to free him. Nor did he lose consciousness, although he had lost a lot of blood,” he said. The boy was rushed to hospital by Traffic Officer G. Rutter. Police Sergeant K. Mills inspected fhe bears’ cage and found that it was completely closed by wooden shutters except for the narrow ventilation gap at the top running completely round the cage. “Investigations have proved that there is no suggestion that adequate measures were not taken by the circus people to keep the bears secure,” Chief Inspector J. T. McGrath said this morning.