The Grizzly Man

Jaci and I just watched "The Grizzly Man" which was a movie chronicling some of the events and even up to hours before the death of Timothy Treadwell (1957 - 2003). If you are unaware of who Treadwell is, he was a man who traveled to Alaska every summer from 1990 through 2003 to film and live with the Grizzly bears. His purpose as he saw it was to protect the bears from all dangers and to study them. His footage shows remarkably close contact, and even touching the bears. He and his girlfriend were killed by a Grizzly in October of 2003 and we know this because their deaths were caught on audio tape. Thankfully the tape wasn't played, but its contents were discussed.

Now I love bears, all bears, always have and likely always will. I believe they are majestic creatures who I think live a lot like I do. We eat, we sleep, we poop, and if we can get some nookie from Mrs Bear than life is just that much grander. Watching what Treadwell did made me very jealous. I know I will never have an encounter like he had with a bear until I die and I get to do it in heaven (where I'm already dead and I'm pretty sure the bears in heaven will be pretty docile).

About half way through the film, while still jealous I realized that this man was certifiably insane and/or stupid. I admire his convictions and what he was trying to do but not in the way that he did them. While he was able to live for the most part among the bears, never did he harm them or do anything remotely untoward. What he did do I think is show some of those bears that human contact is OK and safe. This is NOT the case! In the end I don't think he did those wonderful animals any favours, and in fact may have inadvertently harmed them.

The bears didn't know him or know how he cared for them. In the eyes of the bear is only the indifferent stare of nature looking with curiosity at something that only an already full belly saves from becoming food. In the end Treadwell and his star cross'd lover did become dinner for a hungry bear looking to fatten up before the winter.

Park Rangers found and shot the bear with pieces of the two still inside.

The movie was an eye-opener for me. My respect and love of bears has not changed. My eyes were opened to the lengths that people will delude themselves based on absolutely no evidence. If you are a nature and/or bear lover than I do recommend the movie. I would caution only that there are a few times that the language gets intense. Only once or twice though.

Wow.