Timothy Treadwell
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Timothy Treadwell (April 29, 1957 – October 5, 2003) was an environmentalist and bear enthusiast who lived among the Coastal brown bears of Katmai National Park in Alaska for approximately twelve years. He and his lifemate Amie Huguenard (37) were killed and partially eaten by a bear on October 5 2003.
Biography
Before his death, Treadwell had been highly involved in sharing his findings with the general public. He appeared on the Discovery Channel, Late Show with David Letterman, and Dateline NBC to discuss his experiences. He also traveled the United States to educate schoolchildren about bears. Treadwell also founded Grizzly People, a grassroots organization devoted to protecting bears and preserving their wilderness habitat. Despite the organization's name, Treadwell himself did not associate with grizzly bears, a term properly applied only to brown bears that live farther inland. Treadwell has been described as funny and fun to be around, with a creative but sometimes strange imagination.
Personal life
Treadwell, a former actor and recovering drug addict, was a self-described eco-warrior. He became involved with drugs early after a major failed audition as an actor for the sitcom Cheers. He eventually recovered and got involved with bears after several trips to Alaska. His methods were highly controversial. He named many of the bears he encountered and thought he had developed such a close relationship with several of them that he could safely touch them. Many wildlife experts objected to his methods, believing that his attitude toward the bears was too cavalier and dangerously anthropomorphized them. It is also possible that he inadvertently endangered the very animals he loved by habituating them to people, thus increasing the likelihood of dangerous encounters in the future. His critics also note that while Treadwell believed that he was protecting the bears from poachers, wildlife control experts have stated that incidence of poaching in the area was in fact low and did not affect the population level.
Death
At the time of his death, Treadwell was in the park later in the year than he had been in previous years. At this time of the year the bears would be hungrier, and therefore more aggressive, than they would have been earlier in the year. Treadwell may have added to this danger by placing his campsite near a salmon stream where the bears would feed. The bear that killed Treadwell and girlfriend Amie Huguenard was supposedly not one of the bears Treadwell usually encountered, but this is a disputed point.
Park rangers had warned Treadwell before his death that they did not want to have to harm bears to come to his rescue. Nevertheless, two bears were killed in the effort to retrieve his remains and those of his companion. A video camera, with the lens cap in place, was recovered at the site. The video camera had been turned on at some point during the attack, presumably by Huguenard, but the camera only recorded six minutes of audio before running out of tape.
In the documentary film Grizzly Man, director Werner Herzog listens to the audio tape during an interview with Treadwell's former girlfriend, once it is finished he tells her that she should never listen to it, and that it should be destroyed. There are no plans to ever make the recording public. Troopers who arrived at the scene of the deaths say that in the audio Treadwell can be heard fighting while Huguenard yells at him to play dead (a known defense against bear attacks) and then to fight back. Treadwell can then be heard telling Huguenard to hit the bear and the audio stops shortly afterwards. The audio tape along with the other tapes recovered are all intact as Treadwell's friends said that they "cannot destroy something he made."
Grizzly Man
Grizzly Man, a movie created from new interviews by director Werner Herzog and drawing from over 100 hours of video footage shot by Treadwell during the last five years of his life, premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. It was co-produced by Discovery Docs, Discovery Channel's theatrical documentary unit, and Lions Gate Films. It was released in theaters on August 12, 2005.
Upcoming film?
According to the website Hollywood.com, actor Leonardo di Caprio has agreed to star in a biopic of Treadwell, titled The Man Who Loved Grizzlies.