MINOR FUR-BEARING ANIMALS. py 
SEIZURES AND PROSECUTIONS. 
Acting on cumulative evidence at hand, Wardens Baker and 
Brown on March 21, 1916, had a warrant sworn out for the arrest 
of Christ Hansen, against whom complaints had been made charging 
him with the use of poison for the taking of foxes in the Ihamna 
Lake region. “Hansen was arrested four days later 110 miles from 
Iliamna and brought to that place. On arraignment the defendant 
pleaded not guilty and asked for a trial by jury. The jury and wit- 
nesses were secured and the case was tried April 1. 
From the records of the Bureau-it appears that the defendant 
had been trapping in the vicinity of Big Tulare Creek, a tributary of 
Tliamna Lake, in the season of 1915-16; that on December 5, 1915, 
he scattered along a trail leading up Big Tulare Creek two certain 
pieces of meat which had evidently been spread with poison; that 
these two pieces of meat were recovered by a witness, who testified 
in court, and were taken by him and fed to a worthless dog at the 
Government reindeer station on Big Tulare Creek; that the dog was 
immediately seized with convulsions and died within 20 minutes 
after swallowing the meat; that a dead fox and the body of a dead 
raven which had fed off the stomach and part of the side of the fox 
were found in the trap-run trail of the defendant running down the 
shore of the lake from the mouth of Big Tulare Creek; that the con- 
dition of the snow pointed to the fox having eaten something along 
the trail, and the state of the snow showed that it had died in con- 
vulsions; that the body of the raven, found a few feet away from the 
fox, and which had died after eating either of the fox or what the fox 
had eaten of, as well as the body of the fox were recovered and taken 
to the Government reindeer station at Big Tulare Creek. Witnesses 
testified to seeing the defendant on these trap-run trails, to seeing 
him standing in a suspicious attitude on the trail of one of his lines, 
and going there after he had left and finding meat that subsequently 
proved to be poisoned as aforesaid. The defense made no denials, 
and when the case went to the jury it returned in a few minutes a 
verdict of not guilty. 
The two wardens took up the case at the instance of United States 
Commissioner L. H. French, who was also an assistant superintendent 
of education for this region. The case first came to his attention and 
he informed them that it was the strongest and one of the best upon 
which to secure a conviction that had come under his observation in 
the many years he had been in the Bristol Bay region. While there 
was a failure to secure a conviction, it is thought that the prosecution 
of the case has had a good moral effect. 
In April, 1916, the pelts of four cross foxes were seized at Tanana 
Crossing, a small trading post in the eastern part of Alaska. The 
