Alaska Bear Mauling Recorded on Tape

Yahoo ^ | October 8, 2003 | Rachel D'Oro

[lambo]

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.

[SeeRushToldU_So]

What a horrible change in circumstances, and a devastating way to die.

[liberty or death]

I live here with a wife and 5 kids. We don't run or curl up, we shoot. In 24 years of hunting, trapping, and fishing I've had two encounters that went in ours and the bears favor because of my gun. They lived and we lived.
Only took a warning shot.
My advise, Always carry.

[Revolting cat!]

I thought you were supposed to yell at grizzlies, and curl up for black bears. Is it the other way around?

So to which bears are you supposed to sing I Just Called to Say I Love You as this fellow did?

[Friend of thunder]

I kill me.

Not fast enough. :)

[tubebender]

That's one of those Kim Komando newsletter jokes, right?

[Revolting cat!]

Did they get eaten or were they just mauled?

Eaten. And they tasted like chicken, according to the bear!

[onedoug]

Environmentalists should periodically sacrifice themselves to wild animals to appease nature.

[spunkets]

"Did they get eaten or were they just mauled?"

The bear was aging them under a pile of leaves. They usually do that for a couple weeks, or so, 'till they've aquired a suitable flavor, then dinner starts.

[Wondervixen]

>>She's telling him to play dead, then it changes to fighting back. He asks her to hit the bear

"REASON WITH IT!!! REASON WITH IT!!! OH HOLY MOTHER OF GOD, REASON WITH THE #@&$ THING!!!"

[Major_Risktaker]

To bad for the campers. Should have had a L.A.R. Grizzly or something. When in the wild, city or country don't leave home without one of deese.

Daa bears were killed anyway. Bad week for people vs. wild animals this week.

[PLMerite]

More like "cancelled Czech."

Sorry.

[Colinsky]

We don't live in a Disney world populated by singing, vegetarian, sans anus animals. Too bad more people, even those who should know better, don't take things more seriously.

When a bear loves you, he says it with a slap.

[PLMerite]

I guess the audio-only nature of the tape disqualifies it for "America's Funniest Home Videos."

[Sloth]

Yeah, too bad. Still, I think all eco-freaks should be required to carry a rugged outdoor voice recorder ('black box') when they go out in the wilds, preferably brightly colored so we can find it and have a good laugh at their last few minutes of terror.

[Sergio]

And the gene pool gets chlorinated . . .

[Calvin Locke]

...both of Malibu, Calif.,

I wonder if they voted by absentee ballot for Gray?

[Vermont Lt]

And the last sound on the tape was one bear asking the other to pass the ketchup.

[marktwain]

I'm kind of surprised something... something like "SMARTS"... didn't kick in for her at some point so that she'd run and climb a tree. There's no reason for a bear to kill TWO people. They don't kill one, and then the other, real fast and THEN go back to eat.

Actually, they sometimes do just that. There have been several cases where bears killed more than one person, and at least one where it appeared that the bear was attempting to kill several to lard up for the winter.