Emily Chan
Considered America’s original game warden, Guy Bradley was the first wildlife ranger to be killed. He was shot to death in 1905 after confronting two men he suspected were poaching egrets.
Unfortunately, Bradley’s murderers were never brought to justice, but his service and sacrifice will always be remembered.
Guy Bradley was originally from Chicago, but he moved with his parents to Flamingo, Florida, located in the southernmost portion of the Everglades.
By the time he turned 15-years-old, he and his older brother Louis, along with their friend Charlie Pierce, had sailed with Jean Chevalier, a famous French tradesman of plume birds, during the Parisian’s Everglades expedition of 1885.
At Key West, the small company destroyed 1,397 birds of 36 species for their feathers. In the 1870s, demand for the birds increased. By 1886, around five million of these birds were used by the fashion industry to make hats and other clothing items. In 1900, the Lacey Act became law, which prohibited the illegal trade of fish, wildlife, and plants.
At the request of the Florida Audubon Society, the American Ornithologists’ Union hired Bradley to work on putting a stop to the slaughter of South Florida plume birds, which he was eager to do after witnessing the massacre of the birds.
Bradley earned $35 per month at his new job, which had him sailing from Florida’s Ten Thousand Islands to Key West. The region housed a number of plume birds, such as herons, egrets, spoonbills, and ibis.
The market price for plumes was at $32 per ounce, competing with the price for pure gold. As a result, many poachers were on the hunt for the birds.
Bradley more or less invented the role of the game warden. He spoke about the value of conservation, posted informative signs, and hired a network of people to keep an eye out for anyone destroying the land or animals.
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