Bear on California flag faces a facelifting task

GRIZZLY TASK"

Bear on. "alifornia Flag.

ace-Lifting Job |

Faces a F

The bear on the state nig of

California has a few wolf charac-

teristics, appears to be. greatly

undernourished and is also ap-

parently slinking away from

something, with a furtive eye

cast over his shoulders. _ :

He is a bear of sorts. but is def-

initely not a well-fed, tough Cal-

ifornia grizzly!

This is: the opinion of ans

who have been selected by state

officials to make some. zoological|

corrections, necessary after the) Gg. couldn't bea: grizzly) has

results of their study.

The corrections-which `might

be termed belated recognition of

"bear facts"-will be undertaken |-

introduced at this session of the

legislature by Sen Jack Gime t

(R., Los Angles). he

SIMPLY UNBEARABLE

The discovery that California's

symbol was unbearable came

-when the state purchasing agent

called the attention of Fred W.

Links, assistant state director of

finance, to the fact that he didn't

know what the grizzly should

look like. ,

He had thumbed through the

law when about to purchase some

of the 50 to 100 flags the state

buys each year - and couldn't

find any specifications. The law,

a section of the government code,

provides only that the flag has|

to have, a bear drawn ot Bat The

By RALPH CRAIB

code does say how big the grizzly

should be `in relation to the rest

of the flag but leaves the subject

at that..."

Links asked Dr. Traey Storer,

professor of zoology at the Uni-

versity of California, and Lloyd

P. Tevis, junior specialist in the

department of zoology, what a

bear should look like. They said

it shouldn't look like the one on

the flag.

RESEMBLES. WOLF

`The present - what's |

nae Gt

some resemblances to a wolf or a

pig, Dr. Storer reported, ms

"Storer asked Donald. Greame

in Senate Bill No. 1014, already S00 oe Ls poate: a

the California Academy of Sci-|

}ences, to prepare a drawing of a

real grizzly.

"This one we have is init of

stringy and rangey and doesn't

have the solid chunkiness of a

real California grizzly,' Kelley

said. "His ears are considerably

more pointed, than they should

be and his snout is quite a bit too

long - more like a pig's or a

wolf's.

"The eye is very badly placed}.

and the teeth are definitely all

wrong. They're sort of like tusks

or fangs and not bear teeth. The

feet are not right either," Kelley

says. "The hump is `right but

that's about all that is."

_the original beay os was

flown by a small group of pio-

neers who rebelled against the

Mexican rule at Sonoma in 1846,

jIt was lost when the San Fran-|.

cisco earthquake and fire de-

stroyed the offices of.the Califor-

nia Society of Pioneers,

FALSE. START.

Subsequently flags were cde ;

based on paintings of the early | :

California artist Charles Nahl!|

and the basic design was believed

_|taken from a woed cut in Hutch-

inson's (c) Illustrated California

Magazine. From. the start the re-

produit ons were inaccurate.

- The original `error has been|

compounded because each flag-

maker - including those in Ja-|'

pan-have had their idea aboug i

| what a bear looks like, :

"We `ve got. ae `good bear 104!

"He

them now," says Kelley.

doesn't have that furtive appear-

ance with his -eyes cast be "k-

wards and his tail between `is

legs.

"We ve gota bear that has Keel

grizzly spirit and not that oe

look."

BILL AMENDED . _ |

Kelley's drawing was amended

into Senator Tenney's bill yes-

terday when the State Depart-

ment of Finance offered the

drawing to be ee on au state

flags,

"Some of. the. bene' `on. our

flags opie. Tike a Pig." Deputy

Be

Lower rawings by

onald Greame `Kelley, California Acaaemy of Sciences

California is soon to have a "new look" grizzly on its state

flag, if a law now. before the

State Senate passes. Experts

say that the old bear (top photo) is doing an injustice to

both the state and grizzly. The new bear (lower sketch) is

anatomically more accurate than his scowling predecessor.

Finance Director Links said. _}

"How about a polar bear,"

asked Sen. Hugh Burns, "it was

pretty chilly this morning." :

sen. Earl Desmond said the

drawing showed four claws on

the left paw and three. on the

right paw and wanted to know

how come.

"Must. "have stick "the right

one in a rap," replied Sen.

Jesse Mayo. } | ee