“Grizzly Man” Documentary

I am watching the documentary Grizzly Man on Discovery Channel again, as I was very impressed with it the first time it aired. It is the story of Timothy Treadwell, the man who spent thirteen summers in Alaska interacting with grizzlies before he was eaten by one in 2003.

Prior to seeing this film, I pretty much felt Treadwell (aka “Bear Scat”) was a clueless tree-hugger who thought bears were just big harmless toys, as the helicopter pilot interviewed in the film said. Having watched the film, which includes a lot of footage shot by Treadwell himself, I have revised my view of him. I still believe Treadwell was wrong to try and live with the bears by acting as one of them, but I do think he knew what he was doing. The bush pilot who found Treadwell’s remains summed it up very well, I thought–Treadwell spent thirteen summers with the bears before they got him, and he predicted exactly what would happen to him ten days prior to his death. Treadwell understood that grizzlies were very dangerous animals that had to be treated with respect, and he seems to have understood their behavior pretty well. Where he erred was in thinking that he could always come out on top of the confrontations with aggressive bears.

I also think Treadwell was wrong to try and become part of the bear’s community, as that is bad for the bears themselves. The curator of the Aleut museum did a good job of explaining this when he said that his people had been living with grizzlies for seven thousand years, and both bears and people had learned to respect each other’s boundaries. Treadwell erred in trying to cross those boundaries, even if he had not ended being killed, and taking someone else with him. Bears who come to see people as just another food source or competitor are only going to cause trouble for humans and themselves.

I will give Treadwell some credit for stopping poaching while he was in the wild. I have no problem with legitimate hunting, and hope to someday hunt bear myself, and I suspect Treadwell was no friend of hunting. However, I agree with his opposition to poaching bears for profit, and whatever other mistakes Treadwell made, he did some good by bringing attention to this problem, and stopping it in one part of Alaska.

I saw that movie as well, and I think that Tim Tredwell was a loon! But it was a very interesting show. I just don’t understand how he thought this was okay. I guess he just really loved bears. The part that bothered me was that he brought his girlfriend.
Even though he was a total nut job, he had a real passion for what he did. He died the way he wanted to, doing what he loved.
I hope that I go down like that. Maybe eaten by some huge muskie. Maybe fall a sleep in my boat, and not wake up. Not a bad way to go.

I also watched this show in amazement. Even though I knew I was watching some sort of a nut job, I thought it was extrememly interesting and couldn’t help to feel for him in the end. I think the battle of living with and protecting the bears took over the battle he was fighting with his own demons of addiction. This definitely shows how something that starts as a good intention can just get drastically distorted and spin out of control. A good intention of protecting bears turned into a personal spiral of destruction for his girlfriend and himself….even if he really would have wanted his life to end that way.

I thought it was pretty sad and disturbing. I think this poor guy had untreated Bipolar Disorder and was suffering from some pretty serious mania most of the time. The show was certainly interesting, but sad.

Kinda reminds me of a joke. Some hoyty toyty fly fisherman fly into remote alaska looking for some good fly fishing. They stop at the last bit of civilization before hiking out into the bush. The guy at the outpost behind the counter asks if any of them plans to carry a rifle while the others fish. They all respnd that they are purists and also non-violent people. They plan to catch fish with hand tied flies and then release them. The guy behind the counter asks them if they would care for the alternative method of self defense agaisnt grizzly’s, pepper spray and whistles.
The apparent leader of the fly fisherman says “how will we know if we are in grizzly country?

They guy behind the counter says “look for bear poo filled with whistles that smells like pepper spray”

It is a strange saga. Had to love Timmy the Fox!

Ironically, through his love for the animals, Tim was able to out run the demons of alcohol and drugs, only to be passed by a Grizzly in the woods.

I have watched this twice and also the making of the movie. While I think he had to be a bit crazy to attempt this, he definately gave everyone some fantastic pictures and video of a awesome wilderness area and the grizzly’s. I admire his passion for what he felt was right. I do think he was wrong in his attempts because I feel he was basically training the bears to be less afraid of humans! The girlfriend he took along was there for 3 seasons with him so I feel she was there with plenty of knowledge of what she was in for and doing so I cant fault him for her death too. Once I got past my dislikes for the guy, the show was very good!

I had not seen the post-film round table with Treadwell’s friends before, and the comments about hunting being “misplaced primate aggression” did not sit well with me. People who say this are very close-minded, and have no idea why people actually hunt, or that killing is a necessary part of life in the wild. I think the Hollywood-type who said that was the same person who said the bear that ate Treadwell had been taught to hate humans. Treadwell himself knew better than this guy, as Treadwell said that old gaunt bears looking for food were the most dangerous. Treadwell’s friend seemed to think that bears are not predators, and that “Olly the bear” didn’t see Treadwell and his girlfriend as food items. Instead, Treadwell’s friend blamed humans in general for making bears do what bears do, which is look for easy meals. I’d also forgotten about Treadwell’s “fur is murder” speech.

As for why Treadwell behaved in such a risky manner, I don’t believe he had a death wish, as the film suggests. I think one of his friends nailed it when he said Treadwell got a rush off tempting death by working so closely with grizzlies, much like he got a rush off drugs and alcohol. Treadwell’s arrogance (not naivete) was in thinking he would always cheat death, and assuming that the bears would never call his bluff. I think he was crazy in the sense that he was doing something unreasonably dangerous, and told himself and others he would always get away with it, but I don’t think he was crazy in the sense that he had no idea what he was doing, because it was clear to me that he did.

I pretty much agree with Wade. I too think Tim had some sort of mental issues motivating him.

I remember seeing a show about Tim a few years ago. Back then I remember thinking it would’nt suprise me if a bear did take him out some day.

I don’t know. I just find it hard to take Tim seriously after watching that film. There are just too many things he said that don’t add up in my mind. I mean , who would you believe ? A bear biologist or a native Alaskan whose people have had 7000 year history with bears OR a guy who played with poop from bear named Tabetha ? Seriously !

Bottom line is, what a terrible way to die. I just hope Tim found in death what he could’nt find in life. RIP Dude.