Posted on 08/28/2005 10:15:51 PM PDT by goldstategop
The goal of Grizzly People, its website explains, is "to elevate the grizzly to the kindred state of the whale and dolphin through supportive education in the hopes that humans will learn to live in peace with the bear, wilderness and fellow humans."
But, as Werner Herzog's latest documentary, "Grizzly Man," demonstrates, the best way for man to live at peace with the bear is to not romanticize grizzlies and to give them a wide berth.
Alas, Grizzly People founder Timothy Treadwell had Disney-fied the object of his affection. So, as Herzog chronicles, the 46-year-old bear activist and his 37-year-old girlfriend were mauled and eaten by an Alaskan grizzly in October 2003.
But first, Treadwell produced some 100 hours of tape starring -- ta da -- him, talking about bears, or talking to bears, or talking about how much he loved bears and how he knew to be dominant around bears. He gave them names like Tabitha, Melissa and Mickey, and he frequently told them, "I love you." He recorded countless close-ups of himself discussing the dangers of living among the grizzlies.
While some think Treadwell had a death wish, he claimed that he would not be hurt, because he had a special understanding of grizzlies and he respected them. His fate illustrates the dark side of the modern romanticization of the wild.
Fact is, Treadwell didn't understand grizzlies and he didn't respect them. As an Alaskan pilot told Herzog, Treadwell seemed to view grizzlies as if they were "people wearing bear costumes."
If Treadwell had respected bears, he would have kept a safe distance -- try 100 yards -- from them. He also would have treated them like predators, not buddies. Instead, he recorded himself patting bears, wading into water with a fishing grizzly and talking to the bears. "Go back," he commanded, as if they understood him.
Treadwell liked to style himself as an animal lover, but I think he was more smitten with himself than with the bears. Treadwell also exhibited some of the misanthropy endemic among the more radical animal-rights activists and eco-activists. Just as a prominent PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) leader announced it was inevitable that an activist would blow up research laboratories and fast-food outlets, Treadwell ranted against the "losers" who work for the National Park Service. Why? Because they had rules designed to protect wildlife and people.
Herzog reveals that Treadwell only taped his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, on camera three times, and her face is clearly visible in only one shot. In part, she was invisible because Treadwell wanted to promote a fiction -- that he lived alone in communion with the grizzlies. But it also seems that Treadwell didn't want any other voices competing with his narcissistic monologue.
Her lack of voice haunts "Grizzly Man." Treadwell talks endlessly about how sensitive he is, yet she remains voiceless, faceless -- and her lack of presence makes you wonder if this self-styled animal lover had an ounce of humanity in him.
Then there is Treadwell's wrongheaded conceit that he was there to "protect" the grizzlies. They didn't need his protection. It was this delusion that brought death upon the grizzlies. Rangers shot the bear that ate the couple in the first known bear killings of humans at Alaska's Katmai National Park, as well as another bear that seemed to be stalking them.
How different those real bears were from the Disney version in Treadwell's mind. It's odd. Treadwell did have a visible bond with many of the park's foxes. But the bears he videotaped seemed particularly uninterested in bonding with a blonde. They were interested, however, in meals to fatten up for hibernation.
I have seen grizzlies from a safe distance. They are beautiful because they are powerful predators. They are only hurt by visitors who do not respect them and keep their distance.
As Chuck Bartlebaugh, executive director of the Center for Wildlife Information, told National Geographic News, "Two years ago, we counted 200 people standing within five feet of grizzly bears in Yellowstone. Those bears are now dead."
Stupidity kills. Treadwell was so filled with his own conceit he didn't care who got hurt. He told friends that if he died with the bears, he would have died as he wanted to.
He'd probably shrug about the two dead bears and say he would not have wanted them to die. To him, only one thing mattered -- the words that belong on the tombstone of every dangerous zealot: He meant well.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
Treadwell gets the Darwinh Award! Treadwell? "It's what's for dinner".
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
I got a sample of the difference between pets and wild animals as a kid with a pet raccoon. They're cute when they're very little. However, when a dog bites you, you slap it and it doesn't bite you again. When a racoon bites you, you slap it and it comes back and bites you again, HARDER.
I guess he annoyed the bear one time too many.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
Maybe he thought the bears only lived on granola..
bear ping
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
Treadwell was a reeetard .....
Ignore it and you get eaten by the local predators
I've lived among bears for many years, over thirty as a matter of fact. Though I make no claims to be an expert I've learned one thing; bears are not to be trusted. You never know what mood they're in. They could have a toothache, a foot full of porcupine quills or they could just have been thumped good by a tougher peer. I don't hunt bears, though I believe it benefits the larger bear population by keeping them weary of man. I've had to shoot over, under and either side of bears to get their attention and it has thus far proven successful in keeping a safe working distance between us.
Up here in Montana where grizzlies are a fact of life, the 44 Magnum is probably the single most common sidearm. Grizzlies are just bad news for the most part. I know the have to live somewhere: I just hope it's somewhere I'm not. Most bad encounters have been surprise encounters. If you can see the bear at a distance, and he can see you, usually things are OK.
Taught in this one village in interior; all kinds of bear. Anyway Indians wouldn't kill the bear, bad luck; until they broke into fish & meat caches come early October. Then they would shoot every bear they saw hanging around the village. Funny cause they'd ride around village and shoot the bear running between cabins at night. They'd kill 4-5 young grizz and then go back to their leave the bear alone attitude.
Actually, they had it about right.
the 44 Magnum is probably the single most common sidearm
You've heard the story about filing the front sight off that revolver haven't you?
The informed consensus is that the best way to help grizzlies is identical to the best way to help the surviving tribes with Stone Age lifestyles -- stay away from them. Intruding on their world to "help" them has consistently shown itself to be against their best interest.
Having said that, Treadwell's grizzly pictures are awesome, and I would like to see the movie.
We have a couple 44's but picked up a 480 recently. We have a shooting contest across the river over July 4th. This white guy from fairbanks married one of the native's daughter and he showed up with a 454, 7 inch barrel; and scope. He consistently kept a 2 foot pattern at 400 yards with that pistol. Kinda impressed me so I bought that 480, as a local reloads for his 480. Guess I just see my 44's as noise makers now.
growl
He's bear scat.
I bought that 480,
You've got to have a set of meathooks to hang on to one of those babies. I've got small hands so I prefer a Mannlicher .375H&H.
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