By 1921, trappers had leased 23 Aleutian islands and stocked them mainly with arctic foxes to be caught later for their fur. The foxes fed on the seabirds the refuge was supposed to protect, leaving the government to spend decades undoing an industry it had encouraged.

By 1921, trappers had leased 23 Aleutian islands and stocked them mainly with arctic foxes to be caught later for their fur. The foxes fed on the seabirds the refuge was supposed to protect, leaving the government to spend decades undoing an industry it had encouraged.

A wildlife refuge created to protect seabirds became the perfect hunting ground for an industry the government itself had engineered.