Grizzly Man

Recenty I've become somewhat obsessed with the story of Timothy Treadwell. When I visited Katmai National Park last year the park service was still talking about this man that died of a grizzly attack in the park back in 2003. I wasn't sure what to think the first time I watched the documentary on him that came out last year. I'm still not quite sure where I stand on this, but for some reason I can't get it out of my head. It seems almost everyone (if the internet forums can be believed) thinks he was a stupid, somewhat crazy, moron who went out to go cuddle with bears and got what was coming to him. The documentary does not portray him in a much better light. Even his book, Among Grizzlies, in which he names bears such things as Mr. Chocolate and Cupcake, and tells them how much he loves them in order to deter bear attacks, was a hard book to read and not well written. Still there is something truly amazing about what he did.

Nobody who has not been in the Alaskan backcountry knows how truly hardcore it was just to live for 13 summers in the middle of nowhere surrounded by nothing but water, mosquitos, and bad weather, never mind the 1000 lb brown bears. Watching these bears from a platform 15 ft away I can tell you what an amazing thing it is to smell and hear them, watch them fish and play. My heart would pound every time I left our electric fence enclosed campsite to walk to the lake. They are incredibly frightening animals. To be able to live and walk among them, read their body language, and interact with them at all is something hard to wrap my mind around.

And what really makes Timothy so much less qualified to study these bears than a "research biologist". The simple footage and photos he captured were amazing. I find it interesting that people think it is inappropriate to show these images simply because they do not agree with the person who captured them. Why is it so easy to dismiss this man and his life?