A Puma-bear Hybrid?

    Walter Hansel has one of the most peculiar freak pets ever seen in this city. The strange animal is a cross between a mountain lion and a cinnamon bear. “It” was captured wild among the hills of Calaveras County, near Comanche, by J. Goodwin of that place. The little fellow is still a cub, being but eight months old. When first captured he was very savage, but during the three months that he has been in captivity the cub has been tamed to such an extent that he will allow people to pet him. Mr. Hansel leads him about by a rope attached to his automobile.
    Norris Brothers were attracted by the freak while in this city and offered Mr. Hansel $50 for the cub. They wished to train it and add it to their already large menagerie. Hansel refused the offer. The animal stands two and a half feet high and is of a brownish color. But for his tail, which is much longer than a bear’s and curls straight back over his back, and his face, which betrays a slight trace of lion, the animal might be taken for a cinnamon cub.
    The freak has all the traits of a bear. He walks restlessly up and down at the end of his rope, similar to a bear in captivity. Hansel has had the animal but three days, but in that time it has attracted the attention of hundreds of Stocktonians. It was presented to him by its captor, who warned him against feeding it raw meat, lest it become savage again. So far as is known, this is the first instance of bears and lions interbreeding. —Stockton Record.