For generations at that point, the bear had been a shorthand for all the danger that people were encountering on the frontier, and the federal government was actually systematically exterminating bears and lots of other predators too, like coyotes and wolves.
Durante gerações, até essa altura, o urso era sinónimo de todos os perigos que as pessoas encontravam na fronteira. O governo federal andava mesmo a exterminar sistematicamente os ursos e muitos outros predadores, como os coiotes e os lobos.