Timothy Treadwell Deserves a Salute.

I saw clips of this as a teaser when I went to see March of the Penguins.

This guy was a freakin' nutcase. No wonder he was eaten. He thought he *was* a bear. He lost his objectivity. He forgot they were wild animals. He thought he had some magic connection or special protection or some nonsense.

And what a salute to his ego. He took hundreds of hours of video of himself talking about himself (oh, and the bears). They managed to edit it down to a two hour movie.

But I repeat...what a freakin' nutcase.

 

I do too, as sashimi.
But I think it would be beneficial to science to know whether grizzlies tolerate squid, and especially when confronted about FACTS :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

Apes are vegatarians. Bears eat meat. People meat.

 

I'd like to point out that we are mammals not animals. Also we eat them why shouldn't they eat us? We usually don't eat our food alive but then again there are some whacko's that do. I have had some experience with bears over 4 years at a mountain resort and one thing I observed time and time again is that the toursist think they can make friends with the bears by feeding them and then they ger hurt. As long as a bear has an easier source of food than you they will eat that and as soon as they don't they will eat you. 8^O

Wildkow

 

QUOTE
I don't think that's right, I believe it was a bear he had named "The Grinch". One of the few that didn't get along with...

I still say squid should be a politician, he has the lingo down!

 

Apes are most definitely not vegetarians. Have you ever (obvisously not) seen Chimps hunt monkeys? It's very brutal and eerie.

 

You've already been beaten to that punch.

 

I think the rule in the animal kingdom is if I can eat it I will. I'm not aware of any other rules. That's why male Griz eat their young. I never hang out with anything that eats their young. Although I have never held it against anyone that ate their teenagers. Also the operative word here is summer when food was plentiful. Put him in the same situation right before the first snow fall and it's a different situation. One last thing, I didn't know that his girlfriend was with him. He was a fool, Ten to one odds that she was on her period when they were attacked and probably eaten alive. I never go into the woods/bear country without at least 9mm +P+ loads or better.

Wildkow

 

You better be damn good shot with that 9! Otherwise you're just gonna really piss that bear off. I'd rather take a shotgun than a pistol. That last thing I'd want to worry about when I get jumped by a bear is having to hit 'em. That is, if I were gonna take a gun at all. I probably wouldn't. I don't here in CO when I head into the hills. The bear threat is very minimal here. You're much more likely to get toasted by lightening than mauled by a bear.

 

While not all animals are mammals, all mammals are animals (some folks like to think that humans are not animals because of their spiritual beliefs, but that does not negate the scientific classifications or taxonomy).

Bears not only eat people, but hurt them very badly even when they don't eat them. Not that they are being mean. Bears, like most animals, are amoral and don't know the difference between swatting you away like a fly and swatting away a branch.

We see people get hurt by seals and dolphins too. Too many TV shows and the like showing the wonderful world of animals.

 

My error, I was thinking of gorillas, part of the great ape family, as in "Gorillas in the Mist". Based on the reference in the post to "people living with them" ... I was thinking of that case, but I had forgotten about Jane Goodall and her experiences with the Chimps (who are omnivores, have wars and kill for fun just like we do.)

Plus, there was that guy who had his testicles ripped off by that chimp in Las Vegas.

 

Oh yeah, the Silverbacks, right?

Perhaps "imp" is derived from chimp (or vice versa) :lol:

Bears see humans primarily as a threat to their food. That's why you should act meek and unassuming around them. With the cats it's the exact opposite. They consider you food and as such you should act big, tough, and nasty around them to convince them otherwise. If you act that way around a bear you had better have a 30 - '06 and be a good shot.

 

If elephants can kill their trainers/care providers after 20 years, it seems reasonable that a bear might kill a human in the bears environment. I'm surprised he lasted 13 years. I wonder if he tried "ONGAAWA" when he was attacked? Always worked for Tarzan...but even Tarzan had to kill that occasional Lion with his trusty knife.

As a fisherman, using scuba to collect reef fish, for the last 40 years, and the last 30 years doing it alone, I have spent a lot of time in the "other guy's environment" and feel pretty fortunate to still be around doing it. I think you need to be constantly aware that you are not in a friendly environment. I think the problem was, he got too comfortable being around the bears, not the other way around. I know guys who cheated (not the normal small amount, but a lot) the decomp tables all the time (diving too deep and/or too long), and we would always say: "You're crazy, you're going to get bent." A few are still doing it, some are in wheelchairs, some limping around, and some have had their ashes scattered in the ocean. The surprise is that some guys are still doing it.

As far as the Great Whites, I haven't encountered any, some of my fellow fisherman have. When the occasional big shark (any Tiger over 10') comes around we usually get out of the water and move. After all, we're not making a documentary.

 

The documentary was very good but I don't think Timothy Treadwell deserves a salute. He was an ego driven pseudo-naturalist who violated the cardinal rule of wildlife studies by trying to bond with the animals he thought he was protecting.

He reminded me of Klaus Kinski in (Herzog's) "Aguirre the Wrath of God". Herzog has a way of filming people going mad, and Treadwell was, I think, going nuts on the camera. His self congratulatory rant about how he was the only one protecting the animals was over the top megalomania.

 

After watching a 3-hour documentary type show called "Grizzly Man" on the Discovery Channel a few weeks ago (do not know if it's the same one everyone here saw), I honestly believe that Timothy was a lunatic. There was a man who was interviewed who stated that the bears probably thought something was wrong with Timothy, that he wasn't quite right mentally and that's why they pretty much left him alone to do his thing. I believe that too after seeing some of his footage of himself. Something was 'off' about him that showed thru in some of the clips. But then again, aren't bears just people in big fur coats?? :angry: I think he deserved what he got. I got a kick out of the part where he came upon a partially eaten bear cub and wept because how could a perfect animal in this perfect environment do such an injustice to its own?!?! No shit sherlock, these are wild animals and when they get hungry, they'll eat whatever is nearby!