Assignment #4 - the Grizzly Man

Science 10 – Dalesandro Assignment #4 - The Grizzly Man

Instructions: read the attached article on the life and death of Tim Treadwell, also called the Grizzly Man. Discuss the article in your groups and answer the following 9 questions.

Format: typed with a cover sheet.

Due: Next class.

Questions:

1) Describe Tim Treadwell’s attitude toward grizzly bears.

2) What does biologist Larry Van Daele think of Treadwell and his methods?

3) How did the grizzly man interact with bears? Explain.

4) Treadwell often referred to himself as an “eco-warrior”. What do you think he meant by this? Would you call him a warrior? Why or why not?

5) Do you think the Grizzly man’s refusal to carry a gun or bear repellent was brave or foolish? Explain why you feel this way.

6) Why do bears attack humans, according to the article?

7) Describe the events that lead to Tim Treadwell and his girlfriend Amy being killed by the bear.

8) What do you think caused the deaths of the Grizzly Man and his girlfriend Amie? - His choice of campsite? - Lack of help from park rangers? - An unpredictable bear? - Amy’s screaming? - Other factors? Explain your opinion.

9) What do you think of this article? Does it change the way you view wildlife and your ideas about the way humans should interact with nature? [2 pts] Biologist believes errors led to attack Californian’s choices may have contributed to fatal encounter.

Tim Treadwell (left) and Amie Huguenard (right)

By CRAIG MEDRED, Anchorage Daily News (November 11th, 2003 04:46 PM)

Human remains and clothing found in the stomach of an aged Kodiak bear shot by National Park Service rangers Monday have confirmed that the animal fed on the bodies of California animal activist Timothy Treadwell and his girlfriend Amie Huguenard, authorities now say.

Fresh details about the attack near Kaflia Bay in Katamai National Park on Alaska's southwest coast also began to emerge. According to a memo from Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist Larry Van Daele, Treadwell set up his bear-viewing camp "in such a way that bears wishing to traverse the area would have had to either wade into the lake or walk right through his camp. A person could not have designed a more dangerous location to set up a camp.''

In videos found at the scene, Van Daele said, Treadwell admits his campsite is in a potentially dangerous location, but also expresses his confidence that he understands the bears. “They will not harm me,” he predicts. On Wednesday, Fish and Game dispatched Van Daele -- author of a book on the history of the “Kodiak” (brown) bears on Kodiak Island and an authority on the half- ton coastal cousins of the grizzly bear -- to Kaflia to investigate what is believed to be the first deadly bear attack in Katmai park history.

"What caused this individual brown bear to kill and eat humans is unknown,'' Van Daele concluded. "It was very old but in fairly good condition.'' Most likely, the biologist said, there was a chance encounter between the people and the bear that resulted in the bear attacking and the situation worsening from there. Though authorities who arrived on scene found two bears competing to eat the carcass of the bear killed by rangers, Van Daele stressed that he saw nothing to indicate “strange” bear behavior occurring in the area.

Alaskan brown bears commonly scavenge any mammal carcasses they find, including the remains of other bears, but attacks on humans are rare and cases of brown bears actually eating humans are extremely uncommon. Audubon Society biologist John Schoen and other experts on Alaska grizzly and brown bears on Thursday pointed out that the Grizzly Man’s habit of approaching very close to Alaskan bears for more than a decade without being attacked shows the bears' amazing tolerance for humans. The former drug addict and self-proclaimed “eco-warrior” from Malibu, Calif., regularly approached bears on his summer sojourns here, often easing to within feet of them while talking to them in a sing-song voice. On videotape recovered at Treadwell's camp, Van Daele said, there is more evidence of this potentially dangerous behavior. One video apparently shows Amie Huguenard coming within three meters of a female bear with her cubs as they fished. "This is extremely unwise behavior” according to Van Daele. Amie seemed uncomfortable on the tape, but does not move away.

From what was found at the campsite in this bear-infested area, and other information, Van Daele said he developed a theory on how Treadwell and Huguenard might have died on Sunday night. "We will never know exactly what happened, and it is somewhat risky to speculate,'' he warned, but in effort to lend some sense to what happened, he offered this hypothesis based on journals, videotapes and evidence at the scene.

“The most telling piece of information is an audio recording made during the actual bear attack.” He says. “This disturbing tape runs for about six minutes and begins with Mr. Treadwell outside of the tent investigating a bear that came into camp. It was obviously raining very hard at the time and seems to have been twilight or evening, judging from some comments. The bear attacks Treadwell and he calls for help. Ms. Huguenard opens the tent fly and is very upset. At her urging, he 'plays dead.' It sounds like the bear then retreats for a couple of minutes but soon returns. It again goes after him, and he begs her to hit it. She does, urging him to fight. The horrifying audio ends with his cries fading and her screams becoming more intense.

"Based on all the evidence, I would guess that this old, large male bear had been hanging around the area, getting the last fish of the season. There was little else available to eat, and he was competing with other, younger bears. Although not in bad condition, the bear was too thin and needed more fat for the winter. That evening, probably Sunday night, the bear was walking along the trail and passed the tent. When he encountered Mr. Treadwell, the bear reacted violently, biting and hitting him. When he 'played dead,' the bear left, but as is often the case, when the injured Mr. Treadwell started moving again, the bear returned.

"At this time, for some reason, the bear attacks again, this time killing and partially eating him. I suspect that Amy Huguenard's screams, which sounded eerily like a predator call, may have then prompted the bear to return and kill her as well. The grizzly then hid her body, to be eaten later.'' A predator call is a device hunters use to lure foxes, coyotes and wolves into rifle range. It has a high-pitched tone meant to imitate the call of an injured animal. The calls have been known to attract bears in Alaska. The old, male bear that killed and fed upon Treadwell and Huguenard is estimated to have weighed more than 1,000 pounds. Van Daele doesn't think the other bear that rangers shot at the scene Monday, a 3-year-old male, had anything to do with the killings. That bear's stomach did not contain human body parts.

"In my assessment,'' Van Daele added at the end of a five-page memo, "Mr. Treadwell's actions leading up to the incident, including his behavior around bears, his choice of a campsite and his decision not to have any defensive weapons or bear deterrents in the camp, were directly responsible for this catastrophic event.'' Treadwell had once carried bear-repellent spray for self- protection when he first began coming to Alaska to interact with the bears, but had stopped carrying it in recent years. The founder of Grizzly People, an organization for bear lovers, Treadwell didn't believe it was right to spray bears with the irritating pepper spray -- even if it caused no long-term injuries to the bears.

"He just felt that bear spray was an invasive, aggressive substance that gave humans a kind of superior attitude around bears. He didn't want to have that attitude,'' said friend Joel Bennett, an Alaskan filmmaker. "He was resigned to whatever might happen, even his own death.''