100 years ago in Spokane: After the horrific attack of a 9-year-old, Manito’s polar bears were potentially getting a new home

The Spokane Park Board was considering moving the Manito Park Zoo to Indian Canyon in the aftermath of a polar bear attack on a 9-year-old girl.

John W. Duncan, superintendent of Manito Park, was in favor of the idea.

“The zoo at Manito Park is entirely inadequately housed at present,” Duncan said. “If we are going to have any zoo left, we must provide bigger and better quarters.”

Duncan was instructed to look into the feasibility of moving the animal quarters to Indian Canyon. He said the land at the north end of Indian Canyon would certainly be suitable, at least, for a deer and elk pasture.

The idea of moving the zoo to Indian Canyon had been considered earlier, but the accident gave the plan new urgency.

As it turned out, the zoo never made the move. It remained at Manito Park until 1932, when it closed for good during a budget shortfall caused by the Great Depression.

Also from the zoo beat: Elizabeth Mae Harris, 9, was out of danger and recovering well after the Manito Park zoo polar bears tore off her arm when she tried to feed them through the cage grate.

She was at the park with her nurse (nanny), who told the child to “come away from the bears” just before the accident.

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1944: U.S. government recognizes authority of French Gen. Charles de Gaulle.

1954: President Dwight D. Eisenhower puts forward a plan for an interstate highway system.