← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Walter Yannis
Thread ID: 19723 | Posts: 8 | Started: 2005-08-19
2005-08-19 05:45 | User Profile
[URL=http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050818/ap_en_mo/people_treadwell_2]Yahoo![/URL] Could 'Grizzly Man' Encourage Copycats? By The Associated Press Thu Aug 18, 8:30 AM ET
"Grizzly Man," a documentary of Timothy Treadwell, who gained notoriety for living ââ¬â and dying ââ¬â among Alaska's grizzly bears, has critics worried that his lifestyle could encourage copycats.
Directed by Werner Herzog, the film relies on choice scenes from more than 100 hours of raw footage shot by the amateur naturalist while he lived among the bears at Katmai National Park and Preserve on the Alaska Peninsula.
Treadwell, 46, won national attention for his daring and devotion. He named some bears and videotaped many of his encounters.
Missy Epping, wilderness district ranger at Katmai, and others confirmed that since Treadwell's death in October 2003 at least a few copycats hoping to gain the same celebrity status have been following bears somewhere on Katmai's 5 million acres.
"These are wild animals and we have to remember that," Epping said. "They are not teddy bears."
[B]Treadwell and his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, 37, both of Malibu, Calif., were mauled and eaten by a bear at their campsite, located at the confluence of several heavily used bear trails.[/B]
Many of the film's scenes show Treadwell chatting amiably at the camera while sitting just feet from thousand-pound grizzlies, or gingerly touching their noses with his fingers.
"Everything Timothy was doing was wrong, as far as behaving responsibly around wildlife," said Mike Lapinski, author of "Death in the Grizzly Maze," one of the several books written about Treadwell since his death.
Lapinski called the film "beautiful," but said he wishes Herzog had put more emphasis on the dangers of approaching grizzlies.
Treadwell's longtime friend Jewel Palovak, who co-founded the organization Grizzly People with Treadwell, believes he was a dynamic, inspirational person whose motives were to protect the animals.
"Tim never wanted anyone to do things the way he did," Palovak said. "It's very dangerous."
Herzog was in Thailand and wasn't immediately available for an interview, according to his publicist.
2005-08-19 10:13 | User Profile
Great. That's all we need are stupid hippies disassociating bears from their instinctive aversion to human company and giving them a taste for human flesh.
Idiots. :angry:
2005-08-19 11:59 | User Profile
[QUOTE=SteamshipTime]Great. That's all we need are stupid hippies disassociating bears from their instinctive aversion to human company and giving them a taste for human flesh.
Idiots. :angry:[/QUOTE]
Exactly.
What a couple of idiots these people were.
I lay a lot of the blame at the feet of Walt Disney. Seriously. He was the one who propagandized the ridiculous notion that wild animals are warm, furry creatures who instinctively love all other life on earth.
On an emotional level this guy thought that these bears were out of Bambi or Winnie the Pooh.
Having grown up on a farm, I always knew better.
2005-08-19 13:27 | User Profile
I remember sending this story to the Darwin Award website, don't know if they ever gave this mental giant his proper kudos. This idiot was quoted as saying that he would consider it the highest honor if he were turned into bear scat. Now if we could get a crocodile to dine on that obnoxious Ausie.... "Krikey mate, just look at the size of this crock's stomach."
Some pertinant info near the bottom of this article:
[url]http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=2&url=http%3A//seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/142982_bearattack08.html&ei=9NoFQ6ObDpr--AGh-fHDDg[/url]
Wednesday, October 8, 2003
Grizzly mauls, kills a bear 'expert' Alaska attack also takes life of female companion in park
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A self-styled bear expert who once called Alaska's brown bears harmless party animals was one of two people fatally mauled in a bear attack in Katmai National Park and Preserve -- the first known bear killings in the 4.7 million-acre park.
The bodies of Timothy Treadwell, 46, and Amie Huguenard, 37, both of Malibu, Calif., were found near Kaflia Bay on Monday when a pilot with Andrew Airways arrived to pick them up and take them to Kodiak, Alaska state troopers said. The park is on the Alaska Peninsula.
Treadwell, co-author of "Among Grizzlies: Living With Wild Bears in Alaska," spent more than a dozen summers living alone with Katmai bears, and videotaping them. Information on Huguenard was not immediately available.
The Andrew Airways pilot contacted troopers in Kodiak and the National Park Service in King Salmon after he saw a brown bear, possibly on top of a body, in the camp Monday afternoon.
Park rangers encountered a large, aggressive male brown bear when they arrived at the campsite. Katmai park ranger Joel Ellis said two officers stood by with shotguns as he fired 11 times with a semiautomatic handgun before the animal fell 12 feet away.
Investigators then found human remains buried by a bear near the campsite, which was in a brushy area with poor visibility.
No weapons were found at the scene, Park Service spokeswoman Jane Tranel said. Firearms are prohibited in that part of the park.
The remains and the entire campsite were packed out Monday and transported to Kodiak on the Andrew Airways flight.
Either Treadwell or Huguenard had made a satellite phone call to a friend around 11 a.m. Sunday, and there apparently was no problem at the time, Ellis said.
"But the bottom line is, we really may never know exactly what happened. There were no witnesses," he said.
As the plane was being loaded, another aggressive bear approached and was killed by park rangers and troopers. The bear was younger, possibly a 3-year-old, according to Bruce Bartley, a spokesman for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game office in King Salmon.
The 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 out to Katmai for 13 years and Huguenard for the past couple of years. Andrew said Treadwell was an experienced outdoorsman.
"We were all good friends with him," he said. "We haven't had time to deal with it."
Treadwell was known for his brazen confidence around bears. He often got so close he could touch them. He 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 and Lake Clark national parks, 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."
[B]That same year, Treadwell was a guest on the "Late Show with David Letterman," describing Alaska brown bears as mostly harmless "party animals." He said he felt safer living among the bears than running through New York's Central Park.[/B]
[B]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. [/B] He said those experiences inspired him to give up drugs, study bears and establish a non-profit bear-appreciation group, called Grizzly People
2005-08-19 14:26 | User Profile
I fear that may well have been the way he would have wanted it.
[QUOTE]Treadwell and his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, 37, both of Malibu, Calif., were mauled and eaten by a bear at their campsite [/QUOTE]
2005-08-19 16:27 | User Profile
Anyone see any corellation between this image of cuddly wild animals and cuddly human animals (niggers) promoted by televitz/holliwitz?
2005-08-19 22:21 | User Profile
[QUOTE]That same year, Treadwell was a guest on the "Late Show with David Letterman," describing Alaska brown bears as mostly harmless "party animals." He said he felt safer living among the bears than running through New York's Central Park.[/QUOTE]
Now that is a true statement. If he live outside in Central Park he would have been mauled and killed by the brown animals there much sooner than he would of in the forest with bears, especially if he got close enough to touch them and collect scat. I don't know what would be worse, coming back as black scat or bear scat. :yucky:
2005-08-20 03:17 | User Profile
skemper,
Yes, I was thinking the same thing. I would rather deal with Grizzlys than :afro: any day.