POLAR BEAR ESCAPES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18927, 27 January 1925, Page 11

POLAR BEAR ESCAPES.

MELBOURNE ZOO SENSATION. ATTACK ON THE ATTENDANTS. KEEPER SEVERELY MAULED. [from our own correspondent. 3 SYDNEY. Jan. 17. A big male polar bear sprang farther than bears have been known to spring and escaped from his new pit at the Melbourne Zoo last Monday. In an efiort to recapture it one of the keepers was knocked down and severely mauled. The bear was shot dead by another keeper just in time to save the man's life. Efforts to remove the bears to their new quarters were begun early in the morning, the female polar bear being chosen for the first attempt. The back of her cage was opened, and against the opening was placed a very strongly-con-structed wooden box with bars at the front end and a vertical sliding steel door at the other. Fresh meat was placed against the bars to tempt her to enter, and a keeper, sitting above, was prepared to let the sliding door down behind her directly she did so.. But after some hours of failure it was decided to try to tempt the male animal. He was let into her cage. After inspecting the strange box carefully, he entered boldly to secure the bait. He was immediately trapped. The box was then levered on to a small "flat" car and was pulled over to the new bear pits. No difficulty was experienced in getting the bear to leave his box, and enter his spacious new quartors. The Sensational Escape. Up to then all had gone well. Some hundreds of people were now gathered in front of the pits, and many were prepared to take snapshots. The photographers, through no fault of their own, missed a splendid one. They took the bear when he had entered his new quarters gazing about him. A moment later, and before they had time to change their plates, he was standing on his hind legs with his forepaws held high above his head. He looked a truly formidable object in this posture, for he stands oyer 9ft. high. The impressiveness of the picture was enhanced by a flash of lightning, followed by a loud clap of thunder. It seemed to make the animal uneasy. He began to run. round his quarters, sniffing at everything within reach. One of the spectators, standing at the front of the pits, remarked to a keeper that they did not look safe quarters for such huge animals, for if one of them made a leap and secured a hold of one of the boundary walls he could easily escape. The keeper said there was no danger, as bears could not leap, and that this one, large as he was, had not a long enough reach to stretch over the deep moat which divides the platform of the pit from the walls surrounding it. Hardly had he said this than the bear, walking to the opposite side of the platform, made a jump, and, in spite of the moat, got his forepaws over the top of the partition wall which separates this pit from the next one. It looked for a monient or two as if he were going to "crash that is, take a nose dive into the second moat which now yawned before him. But, with a great effort, he recovered his balance, and, quietly walking down the partition wall, jumped almost into the midst of the spectators, for all had happened si> quickly that the general retreat had hardly then commenced. Stampede by Spectators. When the gravity of the situation was realised, there were shouts, of warning ] from the keepers, and the spectators fled in every direction. One, however, instead of running with the rest, walked through the gate leading to the back of the pits, and, opening the sliding door of one of them, let himself in and shut the door behind him. He said afterwards that the bear would hardly be likely to return to the pits, and therefore he thought this was a much safer proceeding than flying with the crowd. The keepers kept their presence of mind admirably. Some ran about the gardens giving warning to all those that did not know of the escape. As a result, hundreds left the dangerous neighbourhood with as little delay as possible. But hundreds remained where they could see the bear, while the bear, a dozen or so of employees following him (two of them had secured rifles) was wandering about on a small lawn bordering on the large pond near the Royal Park station entrance. They brought raw meat, and threw this in his path. It at once engaged his attention, and. while he was tearing his food, Mr. G. Stanley, one of the gardeners, managed to get a rope with a slip noose round his neck. But before this could be tightened the bear put his fore-paw through the noose, and disengaged himself. He charged Mr. Stanley, but Mr. William Sharp, one of the keepers, hit the animal a very heavy blow, over the nose, breaking the bone. A Courageous Keeper. This stopped the charge for a moment, but the now maddened creature, roaring with pain and rage, rose on his hind legs and rushed for the keepers, apparently singling out Mr. Stanley for immediate attack. Mr. Charles Morley, another keeper, courageously facing the attacker, lunged at him with his iron bar. But an instant later the bear had struck him, and was on the top of hint. Mr. Morley never lost his presence aof mind, and though his face and head was streaming with blood, he asked tbem quietly to shoot the bear, and to "shoot quickly." Mr. D. G. Gillespie, who was now quite close to the bear and the prostrate man, fired, and what seemed an imminent tragedy resolved itself into nothing worse than a severe casualty and the loss of a bear worth probably £2OO. Mr. Morley, the injured keeper, who is aged 51 years, was taken to the Melbourne Hospital with as little delay as possible. He was admitted for treatment.