A grizzly end for man who liked to tell bears 'I love you'

The Telegraph (U.K.) ^ | 10/09/03 | Marcus Warren

[Pokey78]

A bear-lover who would creep up to grizzlies in the wild chanting "I love you" to prove that they posed no danger has been killed by them.

What remained of Timothy Treadwell, 46 - author, filmmaker and celebrity for his unorthodox views on the animals - was recovered from the Katmai National Park in Alaska this week. His bear attacker had buried part of him in a so-called food cache.

"This is unfortunate, but I'm not surprised," said Deb Liggett, the park's superintendent. "It really wasn't a matter of if, it was just a matter of when."

Mr Treadwell's girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, 37, was also killed, and two bears were shot dead by rangers and state troopers called to the scene.

During his lifetime Mr Treadwell, a former drug addict from Malibu, California, always said that if he came to grief, it would probably be his own fault and he wanted no bears to suffer in retaliation. "It would have killed Timothy to know that they killed the bears," said Jewel Palovak, an associate in California.

Mr Treadwell was the founder of Grizzly People, an organisation devoted to the protection of grizzly bears and their habitat. According to the group's website, it was Mr Treadwell's practice to travel bear country without weapons.

Mr Treadwell featured on the website of the actor and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio. According to a biography on the site, Mr Treadwell beat his addiction by spending time in the Alaskan wilderness, where he developed his fondness for bears.

The self-styled authority on the animals urged concerned friends not to worry and apparently added that he would be "honoured" to end up in a pile of bear dung. "I think Timothy would say it's the culmination of his life's work," Ms Palovak told the Anchorage Daily News.

"He always knew that he was the bears' guest and that they could terminate his stay at any time. He died doing what he lived for."

[FITZ]

He might still be alive if he hadn't been so annoying to those poor bears.

[LibKill]

Treadwell: I love you, Grizzly Bear!

Grizzly Bear: I love you too, pork chop!

[Joe 6-pack]

"Mr Treadwell featured on the website of the actor and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio.

Well Leonard...your friend's foolishness cost not only the lives of himself and his girlfriend, but two magnificent WILD animals as well.

I hope your proud...will you be taking up his cause?

[marvlus]

The self-styled authority on the animals urged concerned friends not to worry and apparently added that he would be "honoured" to end up in a pile of bear dung.

Well, I guess Timothy is now full of Sh!t

[U S Army EOD]

I've tried to get them to quit posting the picture of the lion. And I don't know if you saw the post or not on the other bear post, but the one of Tigger attacking that man has got to be a hoax. That is just not in Tigger's nature.

[Libertina]

His poor understanding of nature and these bears resulted in their death - thank you Mr. Liberal. Hunters would have atleast made a stew.

[Chuckster]

Once again, nature's reality intrudes on someones fantasy life. Might I add, with predictable results.

[mombonn]

he would be "honoured" to end up in a pile of bear dung

What to say, what to say???

[Chuckster]

I assume that you mean .45 Colt and not .45 ACP. Personally, I would consider .44 Mag an absolute MINIMUM and hot loaded with heavy bullets at that.

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

Mr Treadwell Limbaugh, a former drug addict from Malibu, California Missouri.

Imagine that.

[cajun-jack]

but why in the hell did they shoot the bears for doing what bears do??? don't make sense to me.

[FITZ]

Where's PETA? Why aren't they out smooching the bears?

[muawiyah]

They shoot bears that have "eaten" humans to make sure they do not make a habit of it.

[wiseone]

I’v spoken to old bear hunters in canada, they say a bear could be 6 inches from you in the woods and you’d never know it!
There also was a report of several tourists camping in lion territory in African parks, that were pulled from their tents,or attacked when taking pictures and dragged off for lion lunch.

[Lockbar]

If we could ask a bear what "human" tastes like, might they say "tastes like chicken"?

[Chuckster]

Because that's SOP when dummies get hurt in the woods. Heaven forbid that we should just say "Well, what did they expect?" and let it go at that, as a warning to other furry animal freaks. Now they can say to themselves 'They killed the bad bears. Its safe now.' and wander off into their own fantasy world where bears are just hunny lovin little buddies in the woods.

[Aaron0617]

Perfect liberals. I can't seem to get enough of this story. Some of these same morons after 9/11 wanted to talk to Bin Laden and crew to find out what they wanted wanted. Give the Afgans food...not bombs.

What happened to these two will happen to us all. A lesson to remember.

Other threads of this story

Bear activist killed by Alaska grizzly

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

Bear Attack Leaves Two Dead in Alaska

Two killed in Alaska bear attack

[Chuckster]

That reminds me: Wasn't there an incident a few years ago of some dimwit setting up his video camera to take a clip of him petting the lion? The camera was eventually found with a recording of him being killed and eaten.

[elbucko]

He might still be alive if he hadn't been so annoying to those poor bears.

Yup! Grizzly bears were this mans last "drug". He OD'd.

[U S Army EOD]

Now there could be another solution to this situation in favor of the bears. You divide the parks up into liberal and conservative areas. You put all the bears who act like bears and don't want to have any interface with people in the conservative areas. You put all the bears who like to interface with people in the liberal areas. In that case the liberals, tree huggers, bear petters, and the bears could all meet for lunch. In the liberal areas they could used the term, "There is no such thing as a bad bear".