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Show MYSTERY OF WILD ANIMALS. What Becomes of Those That Die Natural Deaths in the Woods? "The forest has many mysteries," said an old Pennsylvania wcccim;m, "but none deeper than that of wild animals that die natural deaths. "The .four-footed dwellers of the woods certainly do not live forever. Age and disease must carry them off regularly, as human beings are carried off. but what becomes of their bodies? "I never heard of any one's coming across a wild dead bear or deer or wildcat or fox that had died from natural causes. I found the carcass of a big five-pronged buck in the woods once, but a rattlesnake, also dead, had its fangs buried in . one of the deer's nostrils. There had evi-' evi-' dently been a fight to the death between be-tween the reptile and the beast. "Another time I followed the trail of a bear from a clearing where it had stolen a half-grown lamb. I came upon the headless body of the lamb a mile or so out on the trail, and a half mile further on, near the edge of a swamp, I was surprised to find the body of the bear. "Its jaws were open, and its glassy eyes were pushed far out of its head. I held a post-morten examination of the dead bear and found the lamb's head lodged' in its throat. How or why the bear ever permitted it to get there I am unable to explain. "I have many times found other dead animals in the woods, but never one that did not show unquestionable evidence of having died from violence of some kind. Every woodsman will tell you the same. What becomes of the dead wild animals that die natural nat-ural deaths. |