Now, in grooming a herd of bears, a hickory pick-handle leaves no room for argument. If it hits, it hurts. If it does not hit a bear, it strikes the concrete floor or the rocks with a resound and a rebound that frightens the boldest bear almost as much as being hit. So the bear herd wisely climbs up to the first balcony and sits down to wait. No bear ever leaps down to attack a keeper. The distance and the jolt are not pleasant; and whenever a bear grows weary and essays to climb down, he is sternly ordered back. The keepers are forbidden to permit any familiarities on the part of their bears. All the bears, save one, that have come to us fully grown, and savage, have been managed by other methods, involving shifting cages. On two occasions only have any of our keepers been badly bitten in our bear dens. Both attacks were due to over-trustfulness of "petted" bears, and to direct disobedience of fixed orders. From the very beginning I laid down this law for our keepers, and have repeated it from year to year. "_Make no pets of animals large enough to become dangerous._ Make every animal understand and admit day by day that you are absolute master, that it has got to obey, and that if it disobeys, or attacks you, _you will kill it!_" Familiarity with a dangerous wild animal usually breeds contempt and attack. Timidity is so fatal that none but courageous and determined men should be chosen, _or be permitted,_ to take care of dangerous animals. In every zoological garden heroic deeds are common; and the men take them all as coming in the day's work. Men in positions of control over zoological parks and gardens should recognize it as a solemn duty to provide good salaries for all men who take care of live wild mammals, birds and reptiles. _A man who is in daily danger of getting hurt should not every waking hour of his life be harried and worried by poverty in his home._ Let me cite one case of real heroism in our bear dens, which went in with "the day's work," as many others have done. Keeper Fred Schlosser thought it would be safe to take our official photographer, Mr. E. R. Sanborn, into the den of a European brown bear mother, to get a close-up photograph of her and her cubs. Schlosser felt sure that Brownie was "all right," and that he could prevent any accident. But near the end of the work the mother bear drove her cubs into their sleeping den and then made a sudden, vicious and most unexpected attack upon Keeper Schlosser. She rushed him, knocked him down, seized him by his thigh, bit him severely, and then actually began _to drag him_ to the door of her sleeping den! (Just _why_ she did this I cannot explain!)