Bear Trap

There was a time when trapping animals in the areas now contained in the National Parks was legal and encouraged. Back in 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt created the Grand Canyon Game Preserve. At the time, the definition of game did not include predators such as bears, mountain lions and bobcats. As a result, in order to protect the game, these animals were hunted almost to extinction. The most obvious result was an explosion of the local deer population that created a huge problem of starving deer. Finally, all hunting was banned after the Grand Canyon was made a National Park in 1919.