Alaska Bear Mauling Recorded on Tape

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The graphic sounds of a fatal bear attack were recorded, Alaska state troopers discovered Wednesday while reviewing a tape recovered near the bodies of a wildlife author and his girlfriend.

Trooper Chris Hill said Timothy Treadwell may have been wearing a wireless microphone likely activated when he was attacked by the brown bear at Katmai National Park and Preserve. The videotape has audio only; the screen remains blank for the three-minute recording.

"They're both screaming. She's telling him to play dead, then it changes to fighting back. He asks her to hit the bear," Hill said. "There's so much noise going on. I don't know what's him and what might be an animal."

The bodies of Treadwell, 46, and Amie Huguenard, 37, both of Malibu, Calif., were found near Kaflia Bay on Monday after an air taxi pilot arrived to pick them up. The pilot contacted the National Park Service and state troopers to report a brown bear was apparently sitting on top of human remains at the campsite.

After rangers arrived one of them shot and killed a large brown bear when the animal charged through the dense brush. Rangers and troopers later killed a smaller bear apparently stalking them.

An autopsy on the human remains confirmed Wednesday the couple were killed by bears.

Troopers recovered video and still photography equipment as well as three hours of video footage from the site, across Shelikof Strait from Kodiak Island.

Much of the footage is close-up shots of bears — for which Treadwell was well-known.

Some scenes show bears no more than a few feet from Treadwell, co-author of "Among Grizzlies: Living With Wild Bears in Alaska." Others show a more timid Huguenard leaning away as bears come close to her on the bank of a river.

Initial numbers from the Bear Matrix show that out of all injuries incurred in bear-human attacks, 25 percent are minor, 25 percent are moderate, 25 percent are severe and 25 percent are fatal.

Bear Attacks!

by Christopher Batin

Outdoor Life

A new study shows why hunters are at greatest risk.

What is the Bear Matrix? It’s a world of horrific maulings, canine teeth gnawing on scalps, claws ripping into flesh and people being eaten. No, this isn’t a nightmare—it’s a computer database compiling info on more than 500 bear attacks that have occurred in Alaska since the early 1900s.

The gatekeeper of this data is U.S. Geological Survey research biologist Tom Smith. Smith is one of the few people who can analyze the patterns contained within the database, and his research shows that bear attacks are anything but random events. Brush aside the blood and gore of these encounters and you can probe the age-old mystery that has chilled the marrow of many outdoorsmen: Why do bears attack?

ATTACK TRIGGERS
Three joggers decided to drive a short distance outside Anchorage and conduct a practice run down the McHugh Creek Trail in the Chugach Mountains. After climbing up a mountain, the joggers spread out and slogged down the trail, focused on making each step count. In their path was a dense alder patch with a brown bear on a moose kill. The surprised bear attacked and instantly killed the first jogger. The second ran into the fray and was also mortally wounded. The third, hearing the commotion and realizing it was a bear attack, retreated up the trail, climbed a small tree and stayed there until some hikers approached.

“Surprise is the biggest factor in triggering a bear attack,” says Smith. “When first startled, a brown bear is just trying to defend itself.”

Analyzing the story, Smith said the joggers made four major mistakes. “They were running in bear country. They were not close together. They carried no deterrents and made no noise. All the elements came together at the right time to create an attack. If they had been walking together, making noise and carrying pepper spray, the mauling would likely never have happened.”

Hunters Most Susceptible
The database shows that of the different types of outdoorsmen who use the Alaska wilderness, hunters are the most susceptible to bear attack.

“Hunters typically aren’t making any noise, and they sleuth around while wearing camo,” Smith says. “Maybe they’re blowing a predator call—the database confirms bears sometimes approach people who use predator calls.” Many encounters take place at a downed animal, gut pile or bear-killed or scavenged carcass. Yet according to Smith, carcass defense is often misunderstood.

“Take your dog’s food while it is eating, and chances are he’ll bite you. You can do anything to the animal at any other time with no similarly aggressive response. Eliminate walking up on a bear and surprising it over a carcass, and you reduce the possibility of an attack by fifty percent.”

Browns Most Dangerous
Alaska has a population of about 7,500 polar bears, 35,000 brown bears and 110,000 black bears—yet brown bears account for more than 86 percent of all bear conflicts in the state. The average brown bear encounter is 13 times more dangerous than the average polar bear encounter and 22 times more dangerous than the average black bear encounter. Smith says this disparity is due to many factors. Black bears are relatively timid compared to browns and grizzlies, and polar bear habitat is restricted to remote regions with few people around. Humans interact more with brown bears on common-use land (such as berry patches, fishing streams and hunting areas) than with other species.

Wrong Place, Wrong Time
The matrix shows that bear attacks are seasonal in nature. Far more attacks occur in fall, during hunting season, than in spring. Summer berry season is another peak time for human-bear encounters. The time of day can also play a role in whether an attack happens. You stand a far greater chance of having an encounter by taking a nighttime walk adjacent to a salmon stream than you will by making noise along that same stream during the daytime.

AVOIDING ATTACKS
Joe Want had journeyed far from camp and was heading back before nightfall. He could barely see the branches sticking out along the bear trail he was following. The trail was quiet as he hurried along, using what was left of the twilight, when he surprised a brown bear resting nearby. Startled by the quickly approaching form in the low light of dusk, the bear charged. Joe dropped down into a tussock, face first. The bear tore up his pack frame, which had slid over the back of his neck, and swatted at his arms and shoulders. Joe remained still as the bear vented its surprise and left. Injured, Joe made his way back to camp, thankful to be alive.

Trekking in Bear Country
Had Want been making noise or wearing the headlamp that was stashed away in his backpack, or had he slowed his pace a bit, chances are this incident could have been avoided.

Even during the day, don’t trek through bear country mindlessly while zoning out under your CD player’s headphones. Stay alert and walk ridges and trails that afford good views of the surrounding environment. Whenever possible, walk alpine ridges rather than brushy gullies and riverbanks. Use extra caution when walking through feeding areas, such as salmon streams and berry patches.

Setting Up Camp
How you set up your camp can make the difference between a sound night’s sleep and having your dreams interrupted by a bold bear.

“At least three-fourths or more of the bears that enter camps do so from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m., the time when people are most quiet and sound asleep,” he says. “I sleep well at night because I set up an electric fence around my camp.”

Electricity is an underrated bear deterrent, according to Smith. But you don’t have to set up a high-powered (and expensive) fence charger designed for cattle. Instead, visit a local home improvement store and buy a $39 fence charger that runs on two “D” batteries.

Strength in Numbers
Bears don’t like seeing more than one person. Smith says you can deter attacks by hunting or hiking close together. Moving over regular terrain you can walk 10 to 20 feet apart, but when you get into the thickets, it’s time to group up. That alone will work. Smith has no record of a bear that has charged and attacked two or more people standing their ground. “As soon as you split up, you stack the odds against you,” he said.

FIGHTING BACK
The biologists darted the grizzly from the helicopter, then landed. Approaching the bear to take blood samples, they sensed something wasn’t right. The bear moved, and moved again. Suddenly, from just 19 feet away, the bear charged the two researchers.

One biologist pulled a .44 and fired four shots at the bear, which quickly beelined for the brush. The pair ran for the safety of the helicopter cab. From the air, they noticed the bear still wandering around, so they darted it again. Upon examining the bear, they found that even at close range not a single bullet had hit the bear.

Do Sprays and Guns Help?
When it comes to arguing about the effectiveness of bear sprays vs. firearms as deterrents in bear attacks, both sides have valid points to make. The truth is that people don’t shoot particularly well under stressful situations like a bear attack, as illustrated by the above example. Sprays can also fail spectacularly as deterrents, especially when the canister is stashed in a backpack (as often happens) or if the wind is blowing the wrong way. But Smith says one thing is certain. Having a deterrent handy is much better than facing a menacing bear with nothing but your fists. For one, the spray or firearm gives you something to do other than run, which is the wrong response to an encounter.

“Just as backing away shows fear, standing confidently means something to a bear,” Smith says. “It’s very difficult to stand down a menacingly curious bear, but no matter what, it is imperative that people not back away.”

When All Else Fails
If you have sprayed or shot at a brown bear and it attacks, do not lie down. Instead, Smith says, turn your back to the bear and let it knock you down. Once you are knocked down by a brown bear, assume a defensive position by lying face down with your hands interlaced over your neck to protect it. Spread your legs to help keep you face down during the attack. Be still. Remember, the vast majority of brown bear attacks are defensive—the bear will nip, bite and swat for a bit and then move on. If the attack is prolonged—going on for minutes, perhaps—it is time to fight back.

Black bears are a different matter. “The majority of black bear attacks appear predatory,” Smith says. “You should always fight back.”

LESSONS LEARNED
Smith says that his study shows that a large percentage of bear-human conflicts are avoidable if a few simple rules are followed.

Hike, hunt and fish in groups of two or more, keeping close in areas with limited visibility.
Make noise when appropriate, such as when entering a thicket near a salmon stream.
Always have a deterrent or two handy for dealing with a bear (e.g., pepper spray, flares and firearms). The database shows that in most conflicts bears were only defending themselves when surprised, and that their goal was to neutralize the threat and move on. Bears aren’t “out to get” anyone. Ultimately, the Bear Matrix shows that people and bears pretty much want the same thing: to be left alone to do their own thing, and not be surprised in the wild.

Passionate preservationist acts as a summer lifeguard
March 21, 1999
Elisabeth Sherwin -- gizmo@ dcn.davis.ca.us

Timothy Treadwell spends up to four months a year living unarmed among the wild bears of Alaska. To most people, this would seem like a foolish, foolhardy way to spend a summer. After all, it would only take one whack of grizzly’s paw and goodbye, Tim.

But he doesn’t quite see it that way.

"I’m much more likely to be killed by an angry sport hunter than a bear," he said decisively. "I’m in more danger here in San Francisco," he added.

Treadwell, 36, was speaking to me by phone from a cheap hotel in San Francisco’s Tenderloin, so I couldn’t argue the point. He was on the road promoting his 1997 book, "Among Grizzlies: Living With Wild Bears in Alaska," which has just been issued in paperback by Ballantine.

His book describes how he became a bear fanatic and what it’s like camping in the Alaskan wilds with only bears and a too-friendly fox for company.

Treadwell lets you know right away that he’s not a scientist and that his life with bears comes from his heart, not his head. Still, I asked him if his hours and hours of on-site observation had added anything to bear science.

"Well," he said, "I’ve observed the social culture of grizzly bears, their hierarchy and their recognition of that hierarchy. I’ve seen one bear, Taffy, use a stick in a crude tool-like fashion to scratch her back. And, hmmm. What are some bear myths? Well, it’s true that dominant males do sometimes kill cubs but it’s overstated and blown out of proportion. There’s no reason or advantage for it, the female will not then mate with the male. Oh, and bears do run downhill, very fast. Never run from a bear. They can be ferocious, dangerous animals but they are also shy, gentle giants."

I realized I was asking Treadwell the wrong question. He’s not the guy to ask about the science of grizzlies, although he has observed them for longer periods of time and more intimately than most experts. The question to ask Treadwell is: Why? Why does he camp by himself with only bears for company in an undisclosed location so remote that he sometimes doesn’t talk to another human being for more than a month?

"I’m their lifeguard," he says simply. "I’m there to keep the poachers and sport hunters away."

Since 1995 Treadwell has been a summer resident in the bear hierarchy and an expert bear observer. Patient, passive, he becomes part of the fabric of their lives.

(Oddly, he shaves and bathes every day while out in the field. It’s a personal quirk. He just doesn’t want to look like the stereotypical bear poacher or wild man of the mountains, even if there’s no one there to see him.)

"Bears have 21 basic body signals," he said. He knows them all and knows how to deal with a bear that’s upset, frightened, liable to do him injury. Frequently, he sings to them.

But he certainly doesn’t recommend others do what he does.

"They’ve taught me how to be confident and calm in their presence and give them their personal space," he said. "This may sound egocentric but (I live with bears) like Ted Williams hits a baseball. I can’t teach others how to do it."

Treadwell says he did bring a girlfriend out to the Alaska wilds and the bear habitat for about a two-month period in 1997.

"She started out in total fear and ended up loving the bears, too," he said.

He won’t say exactly where the bear encampment is.

"Ecotourism will kill the bears," he said. "They don’t have much of a future. They’ll either be loved to death or shot to death."

In Alaska, it’s legal to hunt grizzlies. About 1,200 a year are shot, about the same number are poached. Bear hunting is a multimillion dollar business. That’s why Treadwell is such a threat; he doesn’t want any bears killed and he has chased off hunters in the past. In fact, he takes a lot of heat from a variety of quarters – from scientists who scorn his methods, from hunters who mock his concern, from pilots and tradespeople in Alaska who object to his fervor.

Treadwell doesn’t care. He has committed his life to wildlife preservation.

"You know how people accuse animal rights activists of liking animals better than people?" he asks me. "Well, these bears are so much better than people. They are better than us. They make up a perfect ecological system. They do no damage, they are amazing and beautiful. They are basically peaceful and I would have no life without them. I’m living as long and hard as I can for the good of the bears and preservation of their habitat, which is good for the environment and the planet. If Taffy were in danger, I would shield her with my body."

Treadwell and his co-author, Jewel Palovak, run an organization called Grizzly People devoted to education and preservation of the dwindling bear population. Treadwell spends much of his time, when he’s not lifeguarding in Alaska, lecturing and educating kids about his passion. Grizzly People can be reached at P.O. Box 2872, Malibu CA 90265.

Katmai bear lover gets alarmingly close

Officials worry that man is promoting bruins as tame

By Elizabeth Manning / Anchorage Daily News

There was no mistaking Timothy Treadwell on the ''Late Show with David Letterman'' last Tuesday night (Feb. 20, 2001 and on re-runs).

He was the guy in the blue suit who looked like a shaggy-blond rock star and told viewers that the brown bears he lives with in Alaska are mainly harmless ''party animals'' out to have a good time.
When Letterman asked whether the bears might someday kill him, Treadwell said he feels safer living among Alaska's grizzlies than jogging through Central Park in New York City. Besides, he said, a fox yips a warning when bears come near his tent.

Treadwell, a self-taught bear expert from Malibu, Calif., has spent each of the past 12 summers living solo among Alaska's bears, mainly in Katmai National Park. He has given them names -- like Booble and Aunt Melissa -- and he's made it his mission, and living, to videotape bears close up and share his experiences. In the process, he has become one of Alaska's most controversial summer guests.

Despite misgivings, National Park Service officials have tolerated Treadwell, saying he has the potential to reach millions of people with his stunning footage of bears and his goofy though engaging television personality. But increasingly, park officials, bear biologists and other people have become concerned.

''At best he's misguided,'' said Deb Liggett, superintendent at Katmai and Lake Clark national parks. ''At worst he's dangerous. If Timothy models unsafe behavior, that ultimately puts bears and other visitors at risk.''

She worries that Treadwell might someday get mauled or killed by a bear. The park would have a tragedy on its hands and would probably have to destroy the bear.

Beyond that, Liggett and other officials worry that Treadwell is spreading the wrong message. During past television appearances, Treadwell has been shown so close to bears that he could touch them. He has been filmed crawling on his hands and knees singing as he approached a sow and two cubs. Another time, he chased a bear away from his camp with a stick.

''He tries to act like a bear,'' said Mark Wagner, chief of interpretation for Katmai and Lake Clark national parks. ''He thinks he's a bear. He lays down in their sleeping holes. I think that's a pretty scary message to give to the public. He's trying to make bears like a friend or pet instead of a wild animal.

''Is that how we want people looking at wildlife in a national park, like a dog or something?''

Treadwell did not return phone calls Friday and has refused many past interview requests. Likening himself to the late Southwestern writer Edward Abbey, Treadwell refuses to name the places where he works so they don't become overrun.

''I'm working for the bear,'' Treadwell said last summer in a brief phone interview. ''I just want to continue living with the animals. I'm documenting amazing things and looking out for a particular group of bears. If I screw up, the very bears I'm in love with will be killed.''

In his book ''Among Grizzlies,'' Treadwell says he was compelled to devote his life to saving grizzlies after nearly dying of a drug overdose and then experiencing several close scrapes with brown bears during his early trips to Alaska. Once, he said, he fell into a fetal position when a bear ran toward him. The bear just stepped over him, scraping its belly on his shoulder.

He says those experiences led him to quit drugs, study bears and start a nonprofit organization, called Grizzly People, that seeks to increase people's appreciation of bears.

Joel Bennett, Alaska director of Defenders of Wildlife, said Treadwell is effective at what he does. He described him as a ''bona fide naturalist'' and as someone who connects well with schoolchildren.

''He can take a segment of the classroom that couldn't care a whiff about bears, and he'll have them in the palm of his hand by the end of his talk,'' Bennett said.

Because of the educational work he does and his appearances on talk shows with Letterman and Rosie O'Donnell, Liggett said, the Park Service has chosen to work with Treadwell to tailor his messages rather than cite him or try to shut him out of the park.

Chuck Bartlebaugh, executive director of the Center for Wildlife Information in Montana, is also working with Treadwell so he'll give people sound advice for behavior around bears. He said this latest appearance with Letterman showed considerable improvement over past episodes because Treadwell didn't talk about getting close to bears and advised people not to feed them.

Tour guides who take visitors to the bays along the Alaska Peninsula where Treadwell lives each summer said their clients find him entertaining and well-informed.

''He gets to know the bears by name,'' said Dean Andrew of Andrew Airways in Kodiak. ''I've watched him talk to those bears. It's almost like they are big dogs. And I've seem them mind what he says, like a dog would mind you.''

Tom Smith, a bear biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, argues that Treadwell is contradicting the basic national park philosophy of leaving nature alone.

Smith said it appears Treadwell has habituated at least some bears to his presence. While that may be fairly easy to do among Katmai bears, accustomed to living in dense populations because of plentiful food, Smith worries that someone might try to duplicate Treadwell's behavior in places where grizzlies are more aggressive.

And as the bear-viewing industry grows in Alaska and as reality TV grows in popularity, some bear experts fear tourists might get the idea that bears aren't all that dangerous.

''I'm afraid it will be the next 'real TV' experience'' to try to get as close as possible to bears and put it on film, said Colleen Matt, regional refuge manager with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

''The worst part of it is that if somebody does get hurt, they will kill that bear,'' Smith said. ''What kind of tribute to the bear is that?''

(Reporter Elizabeth Manning can be reached at emanning@adn.com and at 907-257-4323. This story appeared Feb. 25, 2001, in the Anchorage Daily News.)

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