Reprinted from July, 1930, issue Outdoor Life 
 
Thirty-Third Year 
 
JULY, 1930 
 
Vol. LXVI, No. 1 
 
The Last Stand of the Bear 
(Editorial) 
By Harry McGuire 
 
In February of this year the news associations carried the 
following dispatch from Alaska: 
PLAN TO KILL BROWN BEAR ON KODIAK ISLAND 
Expedition Will Start Soon to Exterminate 
Killer Bears on Island 
Seward, February 3.-Sid Olds and F. A. Henton, veteran guides of this 
section, are laying plans to wage a decisive battle on the brown bear over

Kodiak Island, where they are alleged to have done so much damage to 
stockmen and prospectors. 
The hunters intend to put on a drive with the aid of a party of stockmen

as soon as the snow melts.    Their plan is to rid the most desir- 
able area of these ani- 
mals. This first ex- 
 
pedition will be in the 
nature of the opening 
battle which eventually 
will exterminate the 
animals, it was said. 
This   was  the 
first gun in a ma- 
jor campaign    to 
exterminate all of 
the big brownies 
of Alaska. For a 
couple of years I 
had been receiving 
confidential re- 
ports to the effect 
that a small mi- 
nority of Alaska 
ranchers were 
spreading the sort 
of unverified prop- 
aganda against 
bears which   has 
previously charac- 
terized sheep and 
cattle interests in 
the western part 
of   the   United 
States. 
Investigating 
the so-called 
veteran  guides" 
of this propaganda 
story, we   found 
that Alaska resi- 
dents   were  not 
aware that Hen- 
ton had ever guid- 
ed anyone.   Olds 
too,  though    li- 
censed as a guide, 
had only been em- 
ployed as a packer 
by    the  Alaska 
Guides, Inc. One 
 
sentence from   a                           The last stan 
prominent   Alas- 
kan summed up 
the situation: "The entire matter is a case of sheepmen 
trying to get free grazing lands, and the bear is doomed." 
The cheap sheepman's trail again! Like the villain of 
an old melodrama, the sheepman's trail is found wherever 
there are lurid and unverified stories aimed to break down 
bear protection. 
 
Almost all newspapers will print sensational bear stories 
because of the "human interest" in them, and without a 
too scrupulous investigation of the yarns' truth. But few 
dare campaign openly against bear protection. An ex- 
ception is The Seward Gateway, of Seward, Alaska. For 
reasons best known to the proprietors, this little paper has 
for a long time been publishing scare articles and editorials 
urging  the  extermination   of the   brown   bear.   Un- 
fortunately    for their cause, investigation    of their 
stories shows them to be the usual fabrication of the 
sheepmen. For ex- 
asmrle_ thiis anter 
 
some     time    ago 
published an ar- 
ticle claiming that 
the San Juan Fish 
Company had lost 
a large number of 
sheep in bear dep- 
redations. Inquiry 
directed to the fish 
company itself 
brought    the   fol- 
lowing denial: 
We have your letter 
of September 16, in- 
closing editorial from 
The Seward GCaeway in 
reference to our losing 
some sheep by the bear 
at Kodiak Island. We 
are at a loss to know 
where they got this in- 
formation. 
We had shipped up 
fifty sheep for use at 
the cannery, and it is 
true we lost a few by 
Kodiak bear, but, as 
we were unable to send 
any dogs up until later 
on in the summer, we 
rather  expected  we 
might lose a few. How- 
ever, since we have 
gotten dogs there, do 
not think we have been 
bothered any. 
We have no desire to 
kill off the bear on 
Kodiak Island, as we 
feel hunters coming to 
Alaska are a big reve- 
nue to the territory. 
And    take   the 
 
of the Alaska Bear - - -                case of H. S. Al- 
bert of the town 
of Kodiak. He is 
a sheep rancher who has been claiming the largest losses 
from bear, and raising the usual agitation in favor of 
killing off everything that his sheep don't like. The 
following affidavit has some bearing, not alone on Mr. 
Albert's case, but on the usual bromides issued by sheep- 
men: 
 
Outdoor Life 
OUTDOOR X RECREATION 
 
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