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Chapter 14: Killing Mr. B radley. Natalie Vander Kelen. Killing Mr. Bradley. Guy Bradley-main character in saving the plume Killed in 1905 near his Everglades home Guy grew up in a pioneer settlement near West Palm Beach Plumes = birds that were killed for their feathers
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Chapter 14: Killing Mr. Bradley • Natalie Vander Kelen
Killing Mr. Bradley • Guy Bradley-main character in saving the plume • Killed in 1905 near his Everglades home • Guy grew up in a pioneer settlement near West Palm Beach • Plumes = birds that were killed for their feathers • Bradley became the lionized symbol of the slaughtered birds (plumes) • Walter Smith killed Guy Bradley by a gun shot to the chest while Bradley was on watch patrol
Killing Mr. Bradley • Hunting and fishing guide of Cape Sable • Bradley was destined to be a plume hunter; the bradley family provided a living link between hunting as a vocation and/or as a pass time • Two-Gun George Johnson had his sights on shooting out a particular rookery for snowy egrets and Bradley’s friend Pinder ran and told about Two-Gun to try and save some of the rookery • 1891, Florida outlawed commercial hunting of plume birds but failed to create enforcement provisions
Killing Mr. Bradley • Even though laws were passed in the state of Florida, the imports of plume (along with others) feathers could not be stopped • Their were numerous talks about the extinction of Florida birds and what we need to do but actions did not always follow • 1902, Guy Bradley was appointed as an environmental warden..turning out to be one of the most inspirational • 1913, Federal Tariff Act banned an import of the plume but that was after half of the birds were lost
Killing Mr. Bradley • Douglas (book writer) stated that even if individuals were caught hunting Plume that the punishments didn’t even occur and just a slap on the wrist did • Bradley watched over the county of Monroe and the sheriff’s department of Key West where areas of birds just swelled • In his district, Bradley educated those about plume hunting and its laws • Bradley died for defending the birds. Bradley was neighbors with Smith and Smith did not like that Bradley arrested his son
Killing Mr. Bradley • Smith later shot Bradley on July 8, 1905 while at sea because of the arrest of Smith’s son; Smith was never charged with murder and the case was eventually dropped • Guy Bradley was the first death of the conservation movement • Tragedy eventually started to show up more and more, more wardens were being killed or mysteriously disappearing (Examples on pg. 193)
Killing Mr. Bradley • In the decades that followed plume hunting and the burning of rookeries.. the vitality of the Everglades ecosystem came close to a point of collapse but because of Bradley’s thoughts and survival techniques, the Everglades restoration was possible • Today, scholarship was awared to those who show and exhibit extreme environmental concern like Guy Bradley