Rebekah shares the sad story of Monarch the Bear, who spent much of his life in Golden Gate Park and his entire afterlife at the Academy of Sciences. You won't want to miss this episode that dispels stubborn myths, and reveals that the park once had a designated huntsman (that may or may not have looked like Gaston from Beauty and the Beast).

Monarch, a Grizzly Bear, was captured at the behest of San Francisco Examiner publisher William Randolph Hearst in 1889. Monarch was on display at Woodward's Gardens until 1894, when he was moved to Golden Gate Park. There he lived in an enclosed bear pit until his death in 1911. He was reportedly the model for the bear on the California state flag, though recent research has cast that conclusion into doubt. The bear pit was situated near the west end of  today's AIDS Memorial Grove, near the California Academy of Sciences.[Monarch the Bear, Golden Gate Park. H. S. Hoyt.]