Grizzly Man

A few nights ago Mark and I watched Grizzly Man, the documentary made about the life and tragic death of Timothy Treadwell at the hands of the bears he studied in Alaska for thirteen years.

He was a waiter with no formal training in biology or wildlife sciences, he just went into the field of the Alaskan wilderness for thirteen summers to observe and protect the bears. His photography and films of the bears and habitat are impressive, self teaching himself along the way over the years. The film doesn’t explain his initial motivation of what exactly initiated his interest. He was troubled, an alcoholic, an aspiring actor.

His practices in the field were admonished by biologists who studied and specialized in brown bear behavior. The bears became so acclimated to his presence that he was able to remain within feet and even touch the animals. Criticized for acclimating wild animals to humans, biologists argued he was putting the bears in greater danger and increasing the risk of human injury. Given that any bear that attacks a human is generally killed, this defeats the purpose of protection he professed to offer. Two bears were killed at their campsite, one whose stomach contents contained remains of Treadwell and his partner.

What happened in the end, those who opposed his methods used as evidence of the consequences of his recklessness. The rise of ‘celebrity biologists’ and the actions of people such as Treadwell set the stage for people to harm or be harmed and interfere with wild animals that would otherwise be left alone. Throughout the film, even as Treadwell warns against doing what he’s doing, “don’t try this, don’t do this” his own actions and films of the bear behavior has convinced individuals that these animals are perfectly safe to be around. Hikers have been attacked after admitted hiking into the bush to find a bear and “do a Timothy.”

I am still hung up on the most morbid piece of evidence, his video camera was on, recording the attack, there is just audio and no video as the lens cap was still on. The audio was not played, but in the film the coroner relates the contents of the tape and newspaper articles detail the six minutes of audio. A close friend of Treadwell’s still has the tape. The audio starts after Treadwell apparently exited his tent to investigate the sounds of a bear entering their campsite, nothing is known of the moments before the attack. It strikes me as odd, when being attacked by a bear, his first instinct is to turn on a video camera.

This was an excellent documentary, I am in no way dismissing the passion this person had for conservation nor am I criticizing the film negatively. It has had an impact on me and it has remained on my mind since watching it. I recommend watching it, it’s been showing on the Discovery Channel.