I was sure every outdoors type person would know who at least the fellow was. Timothy Treadwell I believe was pure in his heart, he had that uncommon unfearing soul, that like man, every creature on this earth had the rights of freedom and that tho misunderstood in each own ways were as blessed to be known. I am sorry in order to become well known Timothy (and his girlfriend) had to die to become legend. I think Tim will live forever in the storys of survival and become greater as time goes forward. He was a good man!
Bears have to eat too you know. If the bear is hungry you can end up on the menu. I can think of worse ways to go. In the dark ages people invented many unspeakable ways to kill their fellow man. It makes me sad to think people acted like that.
Treadwell and other "blissninnies" like him are among the most ignorant and destructive influences in bear management today and his "legend" is a pathetic and tragic joke. The guy was a Kalifornicated doper with the ridiculous idea that he had some "special" relationship to the largest land carnivores in North America; he belonged in a psychiatric institution, not in bear country.
There are some bear researchers who knew him well and, at first, thought that he was a credible advocate for bear conservation; however, I do not know of any who found his egocentric and highly dangerous behaviour acceptable or even justified after they had some field experience with him.
I suggest reading "Grizzly Heart" by Charlie Russell, son of legendary Canadian hunting guide, rancher, photographer and bear advocate, and thus getting a real opinion on Treadwell from one with impeccable credentials as a "bearman", who knew him well.
Bears are NOT "companion animals" and anyone who REALLY cares about their future in an increasingly crowded world will recognize this and govern their behaviour accordingly. Working professionals in bear country NEVER behave as Treadwell did and this is largely WHY so few real pros are ever attacked or injured/killed even with decades of field experience in close encounters with bears. In several dozen encounters with Grizzlies during my years as a wilderness worker, I never had a bear problem...and, I certainly did not behave as that idiot Treadwell chose to.
I California in the late 1800s they used to have Bear/Bull fights. This consisted of capturing a wild Grizzly Bear chaining it in a corral to a post and sending in as many big mean bulls untill the bear became exhausted and died.
The indians in north america used to have a test of manhood where a youg brave would sneek up on a sleeping bear and slap it on the rump, then run.
I hiked in Denali Nat Park (2 months each the summers of 1978,79 and 06), bicycled down from Prudoe Bay to Homer and camped in the Brooks Range and never had any encounters with bears. I saw them at almost every river I passed as it was salmon running season in August 2006 when I biked Alaska.
Wild bears will run at the sight and sound of man, its the ones that have been around humans and their garbage that are the problem ones. Timothy's presence I am sure did'nt help the bears becoming accustomed to him.
ALL bears ARE ...wild... and predicating the behaviour of an individual bear on it's supposed level of human-bear interaction is a very good way to get injured or killed. One CANNOT be certain that ANY bear will run when encountered and Treadwell's bizarre behaviour resulted in his demise and that of his female companion AND the bear(s) involved.
That, in itself, demonstrates just what kind of "bear expert" this guy was and I have yet to speak with a credible bear researcher that had/has any respect for his antics.
While, Treadwell may have been a veritable saint in all other aspects of his earthly existence, his approach to, behaviour around and eventual death by bears was and is among the most foolish and destructive attempts at dealing with bears that I have ever heard of. Why ANYONE would deliberately behave as he did is beyond rational ken, IMO.
Regarding Treadwell, I have learned something about brown bear behavior. Not every one of them is out for man flesh although that doesn't mean it's not a possibility. In the documentary by Herzog the interview with the a local guide/ranger (?) said "he got exactly what he deserved". Yikes!
These animal so called whisperers / live in activists, do pay a terrible Darwinism toll. But what really upsets me is that the animal being just its' usual animal self often gets to pay for its' normal behavior by being exterminated and that really sucks.
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