Bear Expert and Companion Killed in Bear Attack at Alaska Park ( New View on Old Story )

AP, via TBO.com ^ | Oct 7, 2003 | By Rachel D'oro

[greydog]

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - A self-taught bear expert who once called Alaska's brown bears harmless was one of two people fatally mauled in a bear attack in the Katmai National Park and Preserve.

The bodies of Timothy Treadwell, 46, and Amie Huguenard, 37, both of Malibu, Calif., were found Monday at their campsite when a pilot arrived who was supposed to take them to Kodiak, state troopers said Tuesday.

Treadwell, co-author of "Among Grizzlies: Living With Wild Bears in Alaska," spent more than a dozen summers living alone with and videotaping Katmai bears. Information on Huguenard was not immediately available.

The Andrew Airways pilot contacted troopers in Kodiak and the National Park Service after he saw a brown bear, possibly on top of a body, at the camp near Kaflia Bay.

Park rangers encountered a large, aggressive male brown bear within minutes of arriving. Ranger Joel Ellis said two officers stood by with shotguns as he fired 11 times with a semi-automatic handgun before the animal fell, 12 feet away.

"That was cutting it thin," said Ellis, the lead investigator. "I didn't take the time to count how many times it was hit."

The victims' remains and camping equipment were flown Monday to Kodiak. Ellis said investigators hope to glean some information from video and still cameras.

As the plane was being loaded, another aggressive bear approached and was killed by rangers and troopers. The bear was younger, possibly a 3-year-old, according to Bruce Bartley of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

The victims' bodies were flown to the state medical examiner's office for autopsy.

Dean Andrew, owner of Andrew Airways, said the pilot was too upset to comment. The company had been flying Treadwell to Katmai for 13 years and Huguenard for the last couple of years. Andrew said Treadwell was an experienced outdoorsman.

Treadwell was known for his confidence around bears. He often touched them, and gave them names. Once he was filmed crawling along the ground singing as he approached a sow and two cubs.

Over the years, Park Service officials, biologists and others expressed concern about his safety and the message he was sending.

"At best he's misguided," Deb Liggett, superintendent at Katmai, told the Anchorage Daily News in 2001. "At worst he's dangerous. If Timothy models unsafe behavior, that ultimately puts bears and other visitors at risk."

That same year Treadwell was a guest on the "Late Show with David Letterman," describing Alaska brown bears as mostly harmless "party animals."

In his book, Treadwell said he decided to devote himself to saving grizzlies after a drug overdose, followed by several close calls with brown bears in early trips to Alaska. He said those experiences inspired him to give up drugs, study bears and establish a nonprofit bear-appreciation group, called Grizzly People.

Grizzly and brown bears are the same species, but "brown" is used to describe bears in coastal areas and "grizzly" for bears in the interior.

The deaths were the first known bear killings in the 4.7-million-acre park on the Alaska Peninsula.

[ampat]

When I lived in Kodiak, the standard bear round was a .300 magnum.

[OKSooner]

Just out of curiosity, what did they find out about handguns?

[U S Army EOD]

The bear got hurt bad after he was shot with the 44 mag and 12 guage. One piece of advice is to make sure the people who are carrying the weapons are also the same ones that have the ammo. In this case it was not true. There was considerable running around trying to find each other between the individual who was carrying the 44 mag and the other guy that had the ammo for it.

[U S Army EOD]

This story was told to Lewis and Clark by an indian by the name of "Man Who Runs Like A Rabbit".

[Mamzelle]

Ah...HUBRIS.

[U S Army EOD]

Ball peen hammers can also be picked up by metal detectors and is still considered offensive weapons by the airlines. Ball peen hammers can not be used over your shoulder or between your legs while you are running. I will just stick with the pistol.

However if you insist on using the ball peen hammer, why don't you try hitting the charging grizzly in the testicles with the hammer.

PS: If possible, let us know how this works out. I think some hospitals have computers for internet service.

[U S Army EOD]

Makes sense since Jimmy Carter is also from Georgia.

[hattend]

Well, your post didn't say the bear was already on top of you. A hammer works fine if it has just stood up to see what smells so good.

My camping supplies will always have a hammer included but I rarely have a .22 in bear country. My .454 would blow the sacrificial person's leg clean off (to paraphrase)...but then, that may be a bear delaying snack.

You must be Annie Oakley to pick out that person's kneecap over your shoulder or between your legs while running. :-)

[djf]

I bumped into this little gal about a year ago right at daybreak. Looked to the right, looked back to the center line, and caught a glimpse of her shooting straight towards the car, full attack posture. My Nissan is very low to the ground, and beige, I figure a she scented a dear upwind and instincts took over. Barely a scratch on the car, 65+mph, lower front bumper barely got her front jaw. About 3 yrs old, guesstimates 105-115 lbs.

[U S Army EOD]

If I empty the magazine, I have a good chance of hitting something, hopefully not the bear because he would really be pissed off then.

[U S Army EOD]

I hate to start a story off, "now this ain't not BS" but when I was living in Nebraska in 1973 a woman killed one with a butcher knife. The puma came into their campsite and grabbed a toddler when at the same time the 50 year old woman stabbed it with a butcher knife. Also she stabbed it multiple times, the authorities think she killed it with the first stroke. She got it in the heart. The lion appeared to be in poor health when it was killed. I know this is a one in a million incident and the women and the child were very, very lucky.

[djf]

I've heard that often as they get older they are more likely to attack humans. They get more desperate, and humans are relatively easier prey. Doesn't help that people are so plain old ignorant about wilderness, either. The one time I was in Yosemite, I climbed a cliff and rock face about 1,100 feet, here, at the top, are these three babes with their little day purses and cameras, probably wearing the latest, most flowery scented sprays, after washing their hair with coconut shampoo etc...


Since the salmon are running, theres a spot less than two miles from my house I could go to right now and see bear tracks. And I'm in somewhat rural (but very near suburban) Washington.

[ko_kyi]

To paraphrase the old lawyer joke,

"The self-taught bear expert has a fool for a student."

[TASMANIANRED]

A former associate of mine got tearful over a program on Animal Planet. A Leopard hunted and brought down one of those giant South American rodents. She thought it was terrible. I told her for God's sake it is a carnivore, it couldn't eat grass or grain even if it wanted to. God make it a carnivore. It has no choice.

Somebody should have told the naturalist bears are omnivores, They have nice big canines and they will eat meat every time they can get it.

[djf]

URSUS the only surviving cousin of CANUS

[Jaded]

I wonder if PETA is going to fax their condolences to his family?

[all4one]

"He said those experiences inspired him to give up drugs, study bears and..."

Now he can study the bear from the inside... Sad for his family, but these tree/bear huggers are seriously delusional.

[U S Army EOD]

Another kitty story that ain't no BS. As you say, they do things that are easier as the become old. Had a friend that had an old bobcat kind of move in the yard and started eating with the dogs. You couldn't put your hands on him but he never bothered anything. The dogs accepted him and there was peace in the yard. But again this is a million to one chance. I guess animals have different personalities like everything else.

A personal story on that very subject. We found two of our female cats torned to shreads like a dog had killed them. I noticed a very big stray tom cat in the yard that when our tom cats saw him, instead of trying to defend their territory, they would hit the ground and run like hell. Little did I know at the time they knew something I didn't know and they were literally running for their lives. One day I caught him in the act. Right after he had mated with one of the female cats, he didn't let go of her neck. He just chomped down a little harder, twisted and broke her neck right there. I have never seen anything like it. I went back to the house and got a 22 rifle and aimed at the cat. He just growled and started walking toward me at which time I shot him. He wasn't scared of anything.

The point to my story is this guy just got ahold of the wrong bear.

[djf]

I liked this part:

"was once filmed crawling on the ground and singing to a sow and her two cubs"


Probably stood up and smiled at them too. Had a pocketful of slim jims.

And the gal he was with was probably menstruating.


Idjits.

[freepersup]

When news of man colliding with predatory carnivores surfaces, I am reminded of the moral thread in the movie Jurassic Park, and the gross futility in what was attempted, namely in mixing ill tempered, fanged, and clawed beasts, with upright walking hominids that have very soft fingernails and tiny incisors...

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Alaska Science Forum

August 3, 1995

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Bear Bells with a Bark and a Bite
Article #1246

by Ned Rozell

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This column is provided as a public service by the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, in cooperation with the UAF research community. Ned Rozell, is a science writer at the institute.

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Pedigreed pepper spray? Handguns that heel? Bear bells with a bark?

Biologist Carrie Hunt wants to introduce an age-old tool to reduce conflicts between wild bears and humans---the dog.

Hunt, a participant at the Tenth Annual Conference on Bear Research and Management held recently in Fairbanks, thinks a special dog should do a job now assigned to rubber bullets, pepper spray and other gadgets. After becoming interested in using dogs to deter and repel bears in the early 1980's, Hunt found a breed that seems perfect for the task---the Karelian bear dog.

Just like a Labrador retriever is born nuts about ducks, Karelians enter the world with a keen sense for bears. Bear hunters have bred Karelian bear dogs for centuries in eastern Finland and western Russia. A properly trained Karelian bear dog will guard homes, camps, and people by warning bears away, according to Hunt, a biologist with federal, state and private agencies for 20 years in Montana, Wyoming, New Mexico and Canada.

Hunt recently resigned her position as leader of the New Mexico Black Bear Project so she can devote her time to training and breeding Karelian bear dogs. Ultimately, she wants to further the peaceful coexistence of people and bears.

Karelian bear dogs are handsome descendants of elk hounds with the body of a husky, right down to the curlicue tail. Adults weigh about 50 pounds. Most of them are dairy cow black-and-white with intense eyes that peer through a raccoon-like mask of black. Because they hail from the subarctic, Hunt thinks they will thrive in Alaska.

She hopes Karelians will be used by the public and by government agencies as tools to avoid bear encounters and to adversely condition problem bears. She gave an example of "trap- happy" black bears in New Mexico who didn't mind being caught in cage-type traps repeatedly for the reward of stinky, but apparently tasty, bait. When a bear made a habit of going for the free meals, Hunt released the bear with her two Karelians hot on its heels. The dogs treed the bear, making it associate visiting the trap with an unpleasant experience.

"The important thing to remember is that these dogs are not hounds that will run the bears for miles; these are guard dogs," Hunt said. "They just want to get the bear out of there."

Hunt thinks a well-trained Karelian will be a valuable trail companion for Alaska hikers and other bear-country outdoor enthusiasts. A Karelian at the heel of a hiker who suddenly encounters a bear feeding on a moose carcass will start barking. If barking doesn't scare the bear and the bear charges, the difference between other dogs and Karelians is then apparent. Hunt said Karelians will run toward the bear.

"They're bred to guard, and to fight," Hunt said, adding that their strategy is to nip at a bear's backside. In that dire, but rare situation when a bear charges, Hunt said the Karelian will give its life for its owner.

However, the main goal is not for Karelian bear dogs to die fighting bears. It's to alert hikers and homeowners to a bear's presence and to warn bears away before they become a problem. She stressed that even though bear savvy is in their blood, not all Karelians want to work bears. And, once you have a Karelian bear dog, it expects something from you.

"You can't expect this to be a dog you put in the back yard," she said. "They want to be your partner; they want a purpose in life. It's up to you to bond with your dog and continue its training according to your specific needs."

For more information about the Karelian bear dogs or Hunt's program, write to:

Wind River Karelian Bear Dogs
"Partners in Life"
3133 E. Emigration Canyon Road
Salt Lake City, UT, 84108