Posted on 08/16/2005 12:04:38 PM PDT by ZULU
Opening today, the documentary Grizzly Man revisits the life and violent death of Timothy Treadwell, a controversial wildlife activist who spent 13 summers living among bears in the Alaskan wilderness.
Treadwell was discovered dead and partially eaten by one of his beloved grizzlies at his campsite in Katmai National Park in the fall of 2003. His girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, was also killed.
Using Treadwell's own dramatic video footage, the film tells the story of a controversial figure who put a history of drug and alcohol abuse behind him to devote his life to grizzlies. It was an obsession that cost Treadwell his life.
In the Werner Herzog-directed documentary, Treadwell is shown singing and reading poetry to grizzlies, calling them names like Mr. Chocolate, and even petting one on the nose.
Experts say Treadwell was an example of how not to behave around these animals.
Chuck Bartlebaugh, executive director of the Center for Wildlife Information, based in Missoula, Montana, describes Treadwell, a self-styled "kind warrior," as "irresponsible." Though he had a "great heart" and a "loving personality," Bartlebaugh said, Treadwell never should have done what he did.
Bartlebaugh, who advised Treadwell on his conduct around wild bears, said, "Tim agreed with us and the superintendent of Katmai National Park to no longer approach, stress, or harass the bears. But he misled [us]."
Bartlebaugh says Treadwell's decision to ignore this advice was influenced by his aim to become known as a "bear whisperer."
Treadwell clearly believed he had a special bond with the animals. In a letter to one of his sponsors in 2003 he wrote: "My transformation completea fully accepted wild animalbrother to these bears."
Killer Bear
Weeks later he was killed, and by one of the bears he so adored. "The Park Service knew and had monitored the bear, and Tim knew it too," Bartlebaugh said.
Treadwell claimed to have identified 21 vocalizations and body languages in grizzlies. If that's the case, says Bartlebaugh, the one he didn't recognize was the most important: "It was the one that says, Leave me alone."
Katmai park rangers shot the thousand-pound (450-kilogram) male responsible for Treadwell and Huguenard's deaths after their bodies were found. A second, younger bear was also killed when it became aggressive.
Bear biologist Lance Craighead says the deaths of Treadwell and his girlfriend created a lot of bad publicity for bears. But, he says, the New York-born Treadwell also inspired people with his message that grizzly bears should be protected and preserved.
"Treadwell did more good than harm," said Craighead, director of the Craighead Environmental Research Institute in Bozeman, Montana. "He sure reached a lot of schoolchildrenhe spent most of his winters talking to schoolkids about bears."
Treadwell "pushed the envelope" when it came to taking risks, Craighead said, which may have encouraged others to do the same.
"I think he was trying to make the bears habituated to him so that they knew him personally," the biologist added. "People have done that with a lot of animals, such as gorillas and chimpanzees. It works, up to a point. But there's always likely to be a 'bad bear' that you might just run into."
Treadwell "must have had thousands of bear encounters. Finally he had one which went wrong," he said.
Craighead says he has managed to avoid hairy moments of his own during fieldwork in grizzly country.
"I don't get close enough to touch them, for one thing," he said. "I also carry bear spray [generally a pepper-based repellent] with me. I think it would have been a good thing if [Treadwell] had had it in his tent, even if he didn't want to carry it around."
Bear Maulings
Treadwell isn't alone in getting too close to grizzlies.
The Center for Wildlife Information reports increased incidences of grizzly bear maulings due to human misadventure. U.S and Canadian national parks such as Yellowstone, Glacier, Jasper, and Banff have been forced to hire extra rangers to keep bear-friendly visitors back.
In Yellowstone National Park visitors are asked to stay at least a hundred yards (90 meters) from bears.
Parkgoers are warned that if they get within a bear's "individual distance," the bear might charge. And the animals are powerful enough to kill with a single blow.
"Two years ago we counted 200 people standing within five feet [one and a half meters] of grizzly bears in Yellowstone," Bartlebaugh, of the Center for Wildlife Information, said. "Those bears are now dead."
Some had to be culled because they became too aggressive after having been habituated to humans, some of whom fed the bears, he said. Others were hit by cars or shot by hunters who found themselves threatened.
"If people had not habituated those bears, they would still be around, helping the recovery of the population," Bartlebaugh added.
"We as humans have to be diligent about being around these beautiful animals. You don't move away because the bear is going to kill you. You move away because you want the bear to be wild."
That's true. A wonderful animal that should have been left alone.
We had the same sort of thing happen (a few years ago) at an private animal park in southern Minnesota. A person got too damned close to the cage and a tiger bit the person. The person ignored a warning sign and stuck their hand or arm into the cage.
The tiger was not rabid but county officials decided the animal had to be put down.
"Or perhaps the one that says, "I'm starving for lunch?"
Especially the one that says, "your p*issing me off."
The bear certainly seemed to think so. (burp!)
OUCH too funny
Seriously though I think very few know that the 2 bears were murdered after this event.
Apparently not very far behind him. Dumbass...
Or..."Sometimes you're the chef, and sometimes you're the main course!"
Grilled bear ribs are pretty tasty with a raspberry sauce.
Early American colonists preferred bear bacon over venison.
Better to be the eater than the eatee.
Yeah. But then you have to put the bear down. Kind of unfair to kill an animal due to human stupidity.
LOL!
Thanks for sharing that. I just saw another post on Ron and replied saying I liked him. He is a riot!
Had a bud who use to do a lot of wandering around in Alaska tell me 15 years ago or so that the only handguns that had a remote chance of working on a griz were a .41 or .44, and only then if you hit 'em in the hump their spine runs through as they charged. He was very much of the opinion that a shotgun or large caliber rifle made a lot more sense. Since then .454 casull et al have come along, but haul the ammo with you as you'll have a hard time finding it in the outback and make sure the first shot hits as you may not recover from recoil in time to place a second.
Anyone besides me remember the SNL "interview" where a horribly scarred Dan Akroyd shilled a book to Jane Curtain titled "Never Feed Bears Marshmallows from your Mouth?"
Interesting read, too. The guy really sounds as if he were bonkers.
"Huguenard was exposed to Treadwell's daring antics at a grizzly bear presentation in Boulder, Colo. A graduate of the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine with a degree in molecular biology from the University of Colorado in Boulder, she knew trying to get close to brown bears was dangerous, but went along with Treadwell anyway."
Some brains are not able to be used in some situations, I guess.
He was nuts! No doubt about it!
Interesting that some claimed he was a manic-depressive off meds. It goes well with other things I have read about his apparently unusual ability to charm and his highly entertaining personality.
Sorry about the woman. Even sorry about the old bear.
Not sorry about the jerk guy.
"Only two weeks before Treadwell's death they had spent weeks on Kodiak Island working on a Disney film about bears."
I hope the idiots at Disney take a cue from all this garbage they produce - all this pseudo-zoology about talking, smiling, friendly dangerous animals.
And as for Diane Fossey - no compariosn between her and this jerk. Gorillas do not eat people and she knew what she was doing. I believe she was murdered by locals.
One can juggle loaded guns if one wants to but don't call it an accident or a tragedy if one goes off. Living with wild omnivores 5-10 times your size is even stupider than juggling loaded guns, at least the guns don't get hungry.
Exactly. Dian Fossey was a scientist, not a fool.
And yes, Disney really needs to get a clue, you are so correct!
This is analagous to the liberals' belief system regarding Al Qeada.
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