When Key West was organizing and systems were being put into place, the town council made a declaration that appeared in the island’s first newspaper, the Key West Register & Commercial Advertiser.
The July 2, 1829, edition, Volume 1, No. 25, printed: “Be it ordained by the Town Council of Key West that from and after the passage of this Ordinance each and every Dog in the Town of Key West (Terriers excepted) shall be subjected to a tax of two dollars a year to be paid by the owner of said dog.”
Additionally, each dog, except for terriers, was required to wear a collar with the owner’s initials stamped on it. Any dog found running around without one, or any dog that had not had its tax paid, “shall be shot or otherwise killed by any citizen.” The town’s marshal collected the tax.
Fortunately, views can change over time. Often, it is the result of increased awareness brought about through education. The good news is that it is no longer legal to shoot a dog in Key West because it isn’t wearing a collar, just like it is no longer legal to cull a manatee.
When John James Audubon visited the Florida Keys in 1832, he spent a little time at Indian Key. He stayed at a two-and-a-half-story boarding house run by James Egan — who had other occupations. Audubon hired Egan as a guide, too. Later, he wrote about Egan: “For years his employment had been to hunt those singular animals called Sea Cows or Manatees, and he had conquered hundreds of them, ‘merely,’ as he said, because the flesh and hide bring ‘fair price’ at Havannah.”
Egan was not alone in his endeavors. In 1885, the following was recorded regarding the state of the manatee in Florida: “(T)en years ago the meat could be bought at fifty cents a pound. The animals are becoming far too scarce to admit to its being sold at all. There is no doubt that the manatee is fast becoming an extinct animal. … The sea cow will pass out of existence … and the only remaining trace of its former existence will be a few old bones.”
As it turns out, sometimes animals need protection to ensure, among other things, that populations are not decimated beyond a point of recovery. Often, it is the passion of an individual that brings the right people together and sparks the necessary work.
Once upon a time, flocks of herons, egrets, storks, roseate spoonbills and other brilliantly feathered birds clouded the skies above the Everglades and Florida Bay. In the decades immediately before and after the turn of the 20th century, the demand for their feathers spiked. Certainly, they were used for ornamental purposes for thousands of years, but for a few decades, it became something different, and women’s fashion was the culprit.
Hats decorated with feathers became all the rage. To meet commercial demand, the world turned to Florida, where, at first, pioneer families hunted birds to supplement their incomes. When the public learned of the kind of money at stake, crews from outside the Sunshine State came to hunt. For instance, an ounce of feathers from the snowy egret rivaled the value of an ounce of gold.
Millions of birds were taken every year. In cases like that of the snowy egret, a favorite due to its delicate white plumage, they were hunted to near extinction. Help arrived in 1900 with the passage of The Lacey Act, which prohibited the interstate trafficking of animals and plants taken in violation of state laws. That same year, American painter, naturalist and wildlife advocate Abbott H. Thayer established the Thayer Fund. William Dutcher, chairman of the American Ornithologists’ Union Committee on Bird Protection, administered the fund. Later, it was managed by the Audubon Society. The important thing about the fund was how the money was used — to hire wardens charged with upholding laws that protected wildlife.
In 1901, Dutcher came to Florida. In 1902, he hired Guy Morrell Bradley, South Florida’s first game warden. Bradley was born in Chicago on April 25, 1870. He did not live a long life. Although privately funded, Bradley was also deputized by the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, where he served from 1902 to 1905.
In every society, there exists a segment that feels as if the rule of law does not apply. On July 8, 1905, while attempting to take suspected poachers into custody, among them Walter Smith, a known (notorious) poacher, Bradley was shot and killed. He was 35. The crime occurred near Flamingo, located in the Everglades, in the backcountry area of Florida Bay.
The first Florida game warden killed in the line of duty, Bradley’s name has not been forgotten. In Flamingo, there is the Guy Bradley Visitors Center. About one mile west-southwest of Flamingo, there is Bradley Key, named to honor the man’s work and his sacrifice. The news of his death and others helped to turn the tide on the feather trade.
The organization of the first Audubon Society didn’t hurt, either. Realizing the toll the feather trade was taking on bird populations, Harriet Lawrence and Minna Hall formed the Massachusetts Audubon Society in 1896. Thankfully, Audubon societies spread across the country and are still hard at work, as are nonprofits around the globe, creating awareness about the health, welfare and importance of wildlife.
In the Florida Keys, among other notable groups, we have the Audubon Society, Florida Bay Forever, the Turtle Hospital and Key Largo’s Pawsitive Beginnings. Led by Nicole Navarro, it operates as a sanctuary for foxes rescued from the fur trade. Along with her spokesfox, Reef, she tirelessly works to educate the public about the fur trade because awareness is an essential part of change. The foxes at her Key Largo sanctuary are also helping to heal individuals, one survivor to another, with a bit of fox therapy.
It is important to support local history and everyone working to foster a deeper understanding of the world. If you haven’t heard of Navarro, Pawsitive Beginnings, Reef and the other foxes, her sanctuary will open your eyes.
