Is anything known for sure about the age of the bear that President Ted Roosevelt is reputed to have refused to shoot?

star_gazer

This site says that the bear was old. http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org/kidscorner/tr_teddy.htm Oct 20 11, 3:43 AM

serpa

Here's a completely different 'old bear' story. There were several other hunters competing, and most of them had already killed an animal. A suite of Roosevelt's attendants, led by Holt Collier,[2] cornered, clubbed, and tied an American Black Bear to a willow tree after a long exhausting chase with hounds. They called Roosevelt to the site and suggested that he should shoot it. He refused to shoot the bear himself, deeming this unsportsmanlike, but instructed that the bear be killed to put it out of its misery[3], and it became the topic of a political cartoon by Clifford Berryman in The Washington Post on November 16, 1902. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teddy_bear And a 'young bear' story. During his spare time he attended a bear hunt in Mississippi. During the hunt, Roosevelt came upon a wounded young bear and ordered the mercy killing of the animal. The Washington Post ran a editorial cartoon created by the political cartoonist Clifford K. Berryman that illustrated the event. http://inventors.about.com/od/tstartinventions/a/Teddy_Bear.htm Oct 20 11, 8:30 AM