Bear enthusiast, companion fatally mauled in Katmai National Park
Pilot discovers scene of brown bear attack
http://adn.com/front/story/4102002p-4119654c.html

By Rachel D'Oro
The Associated Press

(Published: October 7, 2003)

(Ron Engstrom / Anchorage Daily News)

A self-styled bear expert who once called Alaska's brown bears harmless party animals was one of two people fatally mauled in a bear attack in Katmai National Park and Preserve - the first known bear killings in the 4.7-million-acre park.

The bodies of Timothy Treadwell, 46, and Amie Hugenard, 37, both of Malibu, Calif., were found near Kaflia Bay on Monday when a pilot with Andrew Airways arrived to pick them up and take them to Kodiak, Alaska State Troopers said. The park is on the Alaska Peninsula.

Treadwell, co-author of "Among Grizzlies: Living With Wild Bears in Alaska," spent more than a dozen summers living alone with Katmai bears, and videotaping them. Information on Hugenard was not immediately available.

The Andrew Airways pilot contacted troopers in Kodiak and the National Park Service in King Salmon after he saw a brown bear, possibly on top of a body, in the camp Monday afternoon.

Park rangers encountered a large, aggressive male brown bear when they arrived at the campsite and killed it. Investigators then found human remains buried by a bear near the campsite, which was in a brushy area with poor visibility.

No weapons were found at the scene, Park Service spokeswoman Jane Tranel said. Firearms are prohibited in that part of the park.

The remains and the entire campsite were packed out Monday and transported to Kodiak on the Andrew Airways flight.

As the plane was being loaded, another aggressive bear approached and was killed by park rangers and troopers. The bear was younger, possibly a 3-year-old, according to Bruce Bartley, a spokesman for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game office in King Salmon.

The bodies were flown to the state medical examiner's office for autopsy.

Dean Andrew, owner of Andrew Airways, said the pilot was too upset to comment. The company had been flying Treadwell out to Katmai for 13 years and Huguenard for the last couple of years. Andrew said Treadwell as an experienced outdoorsman.

"We were all good friends with him," he said. "We haven't had time to deal with it."

Treadwell was known for his brazen confidence around bears. He often got so close he could touch them. He gave them names. Once he was filmed crawling along the ground singing as he approached a sow and two cubs.

Over the years, Park Service officials, biologists and others expressed concern about his safety and the message he was sending out.

"At best he's misguided," Deb Liggett, superintendent at Katmai and Lake Clark national parks, told the Anchorage Daily News in 2001. "At worst he's dangerous. If Timothy models unsafe behavior, that ultimately puts bears and other visitors at risk."

That same year, Treadwell was a guest on the "Late Show with David Letterman," describing Alaska brown bears as mostly harmless "party animals." He said he felt safer living among the bears than running through New York's Central Park.

In his book, Treadwell said he decided to devote himself to saving grizzlies after a drug overdose, followed by several close calls with brown bears in early trips to Alaska. He said those experiences inspired him to give up drugs, study bears and establish a nonprofit bear-appreciation group, called Grizzly People.

Grizzly and brown bears are the same species, but brown is used to describe bears in coastal areas and grizzly for bears in the Interior.

Treadwell and Huguenard were videotaping bears at the Kaflia Bay lakes, usually not frequented by visitors, according to Park Service spokesman John Quinley. He said bears are attracted to the area by a late run of salmon passing through lakes.

The site is 60 air miles east of Brooks Camp, the best known and most frequently visited bear-watching site in the park. Although it is reachable only by float plane or boat, as many as 300 people visit in July, when scores of bears congregate at the Brooks River as sockeye salmon make their way to spawning grounds.

"July is prime-time for bears there," Quinley said. "It's a worldwide destination."

In the mid-1980s, a brown bear mauled the body of a visitor who drowned, but this week's attacks are the first known bear killings in the park, Quinley said.

Rangers planned to return to the site Tuesday, but were waiting for low clouds to clear, Bartley said.

sounds like the bears finished what the drugs didnt.

-reminds me of the scene in the movie "stir crazy" where Gene Wilder was trying to show compassion to a "misunderstood" inmate.
Seroiusly; its a horrible story , shouldnt have to happen to anyone.
olyeller

A peace-loving bear 'expert' from California.... should have seen this one coming. Sad, but predictable.

I suppose one should keep his peace when someone dies, but I can't honestly say I am sorry for these people. Deb Liggett had it right...in spades. Bears are wild animals not party animals, and to treat them otherwise not only means you are treating them with contempt, but it ultimately sets them up to be killed by us. A logical consequence of disrespecting an animal and treating it like a subhuman, or party favour, can be that you get eaten, kicked, bit, clawed or gutted. One result is death. Is it wrong to feel nothing when the logical consequence happens to someone who should know better? If it is, then I am wrong. Thanks for listening, Fred

No, Fred -

Think you have it pretty well nailed down. Same with the showman "Roy" and the tiger incident in Las Vegas, plus the nutcase that was keeping a grown tiger in his apartment in New York (along with an alligator!) and was mauled.

My late brother was severly mauled by two "pet" mule deer many years ago when we lived at a logging camp in New Mexico. They were used to people feeding them Bull Durham tobacco from their pockets. He was about 10 years old and was carrying water back home. Naturally, he didn't have any tobacco on him. The deer did a number on him before other folks chased them off. Dad took care of the "pet" deer so they never bothered anyone else's kids.

People just don't understand a wild animal can attack at any time for whatever reason. Like humans, they all have different personalities, with good days and bad days.

Sorry to hear what happened with your brother! I hope he recoverd OK and had a good long life! It is true that Deer will addict to tobacco. Contrary to what a guy might think, I have read that deer (or the deer family) actually kill more humans than any other group. Rut is a dangerous time for any deer and, of course, there is always the situation where a wounded animal isn't quite dead. I have always felt that people tended to underestimate them. Actually spent a good part of my young life with a doe that our village Doctor found drowning in a creek when she was a fawn. The mother was killed by a cougar, so my dad and mom raised it with our dog. I think the thing that bothers me the most about the issue under discussion is that many people, and not just city folk either, don't respect animals for what they actually are. Instead they try to deny the animals true nature, or make little humans out of them. Almost always when people do this they are operating according to their own needs, rather than the needs of the animal. I think for such people there is often something they are failing to accept or measure up to and, despite their protestations of love and their strong feelings, they are dangerous. On the other hand, there are the people who genuinely love animals and through knowledge and experience respect what they actually are. Such people are worthy of respect and a joy to be around! Fred

The sad part is that 2 bears had to die because of those two "experts". I hearby nominate them for this years Darwin awards and Mr. Treadwell for Darwin Man of the Year! Nature has no patience for fools or stupid people. CEJ...

Wildlife author killed, eaten by bears he loved
KATMAI: Many had warned Treadwell that his encounters with browns were too close.

http://adn.com/front/story/4110831p-4127072c.html
By CRAIG MEDRED
Anchorage Daily News

(Published: October 8, 2003)

A California author and filmmaker who became famous for trekking to Alaska's remote Katmai coast to commune with brown bears has fallen victim to the teeth and claws of the wild animals he loved.

Alaska State Troopers and National Park Service officials said Timothy Treadwell, 46, and girlfriend Amie Huguenard, 37, were killed and partially eaten by a bear or bears near Kaflia Bay, about 300 miles southwest of Anchorage, earlier this week.

Scientists who study Alaska brown bears said they had been warning Treadwell for years that he needed to be more careful around the huge and powerful coastal twin of the grizzly.

Treadwell's films of close-up encounters with giant bears brought him a bounty of national media attention. The fearless former drug addict from Malibu, Calif. -- who routinely eased up close to bears to chant "I love you'' in a high-pitched, sing-song voice -- was the subject of a show on the Discovery Channel and a report on "Dateline NBC." Blond, good-looking and charismatic, he appeared for interviews on David Letterman's show and "The Rosie O'Donnell Show" to talk about his bears. He even gave them names: Booble, Aunt Melissa, Mr. Chocolate, Freckles and Molly, among others.

A self-proclaimed eco-warrior, he attracted something of a cult following too. Chuck Bartlebaugh of "Be Bear Aware,'' a national bear awareness campaign, called Treadwell one of the leaders of a group of people engaged in "a trend to promote getting close to bears to show they were not dangerous.

"He kept insisting that he wanted to show that bears in thick brush aren't dangerous. The last two people killed (by bears) in Glacier National Park went off the trail into the brush. They said their goal was to find a grizzly bear so they could 'do a Timothy.' We have a trail of dead people and dead bears because of this trend that says, 'Let's show it's not dangerous.' ''

But even Treadwell knew that getting close with brown bears in thick cover was indeed dangerous. In his 1997 book "Among Grizzlies,'' he wrote of a chilling encounter with a bear in the alder thickets that surround Kaflia Lake along the outer coast of Katmai National Park and Preserve.

"This was Demon, who some experts label the '25th Grizzly,' the one that tolerates no man or bear, the one that kills without bias,'' Treadwell wrote. "I had thought Demon was going to kill me in the Grizzly Maze.''

Treadwell survived and kept coming back to the area. He would spend three to four months a summer along the Katmai coast, filming, watching and talking to the bears.

"I met him during the summer of '98 at Hallo Bay,'' said Stephen Stringham, a professor with the University of Alaska system. "At first, having read his book, I thought he was fairly foolhardy ... (but) he was more careful than the book portrayed.

"He wasn't naive. He knew there was danger."

NO PROTECTION

Despite that, Treadwell refused to carry firearms or ring his campsites with an electric fence as do bear researchers in the area. And he stopped carrying bear spray for self-protection in recent years. Friends said he thought he knew the bears so well he didn't need it.

U.S. Geological Survey bear researcher Tom Smith; Sterling Miller, formerly the Alaska Department of Fish and Game's top bear authority; and others said they tried to warn the amateur naturalist that he was being far too cavalier around North America's largest and most powerful predator.

"He's the only one I've consistently had concern for,'' Smith said. "He had kind of a childlike attitude about him.''

"I told him to be much more cautious ... because every time a bear kills somebody, there is a big increase in bearanoia and bears get killed,'' Miller said. "I thought that would be a way of getting to him, and his response was 'I would be honored to end up in bear scat.' ''

A number of other people said that over the years Treadwell made similar comments to them, implying that he would prefer to die as part of a bear's meal. All said they found the comments troubling, because bears that attack people so often end up dead.

RANGERS RETRIEVE REMAINS

Katmai park rangers who went Monday to retrieve the remains of Treadwell and Huguenard -- both of whom were largely eaten -- ended up killing two bears near the couple's campsite.

Katmai superintendent Deb Liggett said she was deeply troubled by the whole episode.

"The last time I saw Timothy, I told him to be safe out there and that none of my staff would ever forgive him if they had to kill a bear because of him,'' she said. "I kind of had a heart-to-heart with him. I told him he was teaching the wrong message.

"This is unfortunate, (but) I'm not surprised. It really wasn't a matter of if; it was just a matter of when.''

What led up to the latest Alaska bear attack, as well as exactly when it happened, is unknown. The bodies of Treadwell and Huguenard, a physician's assistant from Boulder, Colo., were discovered Monday by the pilot of a Kodiak air taxi who arrived at their wilderness camp to take them back to civilization. A bear had buried the remains of both in what is known as a "food cache.''

The couple's tent was flattened as if a bear sat or stepped on it, but it had not been ripped open, even though food was inside. The condition of the tent led most knowledgeable observers to conclude the attack probably took place during the daylight hours when Treadwell and Huguenard were outside the tent, instead of at night when they would have been inside. Most of their food was found in bear-proof containers near the camp.

Officials said the camp was clean but located close to a number of bear trails. Because of the concentration of bears in the Kaflia Lake area and a shortage of good campsites, however, it is almost impossible to camp anywhere but along a bear trail there.

EXTENDED THEIR STAY

Treadwell and Huguenard, who was in the process of moving from Colorado to Malibu to live with Treadwell, had last been heard from Sunday afternoon when they used a satellite phone to talk to Jewel Palovak. Palovak is a Malibu associate of Treadwell at Grizzly People, which bills itself as "a grass-roots organization devoted to preserving bears and their wilderness habitat.''

Palovak said she talked with Treadwell about his favorite bear, a sow he called Downy. Treadwell had been worried, Palovak said, that the sow might have wandered out of the area and been killed by hunters. So instead of returning to California at the end of September as planned, Treadwell lingered at Kaflia to look for her. Palovak said Treadwell was excited to report finding the animal alive.

PILOT CALLS IN TRAGEDY

What transpired in the hours after the phone call is unknown. The Kodiak pilot who arrived at the Treadwell camp the next day was met by a charging brown bear. The bear forced the pilot for Andrew Airways back to his floatplane.

Authorities said he took off and buzzed the bear several times in an effort to drive it out of the area, but it would not leave the campsite established by Treadwell and Huguenard. When the pilot spotted the bear apparently sitting on the remains of a human, authorities said, he flew back to the lake, landed, beached his plane some distance from the camp and called for help from troopers and the Park Service.

Interviews with sources who were on the scene provided this account:

Park rangers were the first to arrive. They hiked from the beach toward a knob above the camp hoping to be able to survey the scene from a distance. They had no sooner reached the top of the knob, however, than they were charged by a large brown bear.

It was shot and killed at a distance of about 12 feet. The Andrew Air pilot, according to Bruce Bartley of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, was convinced the large boar with the ratty hide was the same animal he'd tried to buzz out of the campsite. The boar was described as an underweight, old male with rotting teeth.

Authorities do not know if it was the bear that killed Treadwell and Huguenard. They were to fly to the site on Tuesday to search the animal's stomach for human remains but were prevented from doing so by bad weather.

After shooting that bear, rangers and troopers who had by then arrived walked down to the campsite and undertook the task of gathering the remains of the two campers. While they were there, another large boar grizzly went through the campsite but largely ignored the humans.

A smaller, subadult that appeared later, however, seemed to be stalking the group. Rangers and troopers shot and killed it.

"It would have killed Timothy to know that they killed the bears,'' Palovak said, "but there was no choice in the matter."

"He was very clear that he didn't want any retaliation against a bear,'' added Roland Dixon, a wealthy bear fan who lives on a ranch outside of Fort Collins, Colo., and has been one of Treadwell's main benefactors for the past six or seven years. "He was really adamant that he didn't want any bear to suffer from any mistake that he made. His attitude was that if something like this were to happen, it would probably be his fault.''

Bartlebaugh of "Be Bear Aware'' has no doubts that Treadwell loved the animals but believes the love was misguided.

"I'm an avid bear enthusiast,'' Bartlebaugh said. "It's the same attitude that I think Timothy had, but I don't want them (the bears) to be my friends. I don't want to have a close, loving relationship. I want to be in awe of them as wild animals.''

Palovak, Treadwell's associate, and Dixon take a different view.

"I think (Timothy) would say it's the culmination of his life's work,'' Palovak said. "He always knew that he was the bear's guest and that they could terminate his stay at any time. He lived with the full knowledge of that. He died doing what he lived for.''

"He was kind of a goofy guy,'' Dixon said. "It took me a while to get in tune with him. His whole life was dedicated to being with the bears, or teaching young people about them. That's all he ever did. It was always about the bears. It was never about Timothy. He had a passion and he lived his passion. There will be no one to replace him. There's just nobody in the bear world who studies bears like Timothy did.''

Dixon acknowledged Treadwell took risks with bears but dismissed as envious those who criticized his behavior .

Daily News reporter Elizabeth Manning contributed to this story. Daily News Outdoors editor Craig Medred can be reached at cmedred@adn.com.

Terminal Bambism.

It's unfortunate the Park authorities weren't able to bar this character from the park. A check on his book at Amazon.com found several reviews that told the "Rest of the Story". Hopefully that will stop others from indulging in this kind of foolishness.

Bye
Jack

The worst part about the whole tragedy is, 2 bears wound up being put down because 2 fools pushed their egos too far.
Is this not the ultimate harrassing wildlife scenario?
Two of North americas largest, strongest and most ferocious animals being harrassed into doing what they are so famous for? protecting themselves, their food cache, and anything else their heart desires.
Has the bambism gone so far as to think, this wild animal is just a big teddy bear.
When my wife was a kid raised in the upper peninsula of Mi. she had alot of bear stories from around the cabins. It did not take long to realize the strength of these animals.
Yes the bears finished what the drugs started!
Good riddens, Maybe this will wake some other fools up before any more bears are put down.

John

sounds like natural selection to me..I nominate Treadwell for the Darwin Award

Threadwell had a tape running when the bear attacked. It didn't sound pretty.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20031009/ap_on_re_us/bear_attack_3

Bye
Jack

Sometimes, the only apparent good coming from stupidity is to set a bad example that other people can learn from.

This would appear to be one of those cases. Ought to be a lock for Darwin Award winner for 2003.

Made the Tom Brokow national news report tonight. Had pictures of him and interviews, also, the guy giving lectures to school children. All the time the story was running I couldn't help but think what a Class A Fool the person was and that he managed to get his live-in killed along with himself.

I imagine he will be immortalized now and
their relatives will be suing the National Park Service. Maybe even the flight charter that recklessly flew them in and dumped them off.

What a silly way to commit suicide! The shame is that they managed to murder the bear while they were doing it. The park ranger who had to kill the bear should sue their estate on grounds of recless endangerment!

Treadwell: 'Get out here. I'm getting killed'
MAULING: Sound of bear attack that killed two was captured by video camera.


By CRAIG MEDRED
Anchorage Daily News

(Published: October 9, 2003)

Among the last words Timothy Treadwell uttered to his girlfriend before a bear killed and partially ate both of them were these:

"Get out here. I'm getting killed.''

Words caught on a tape recording of the attack also reveal Treadwell's girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, shouting at him to play dead, then encouraging him to fight back.

Alaska State Troopers report that is what they heard on a videotape recovered Monday at the scene of a bear mauling in Katmai National Park and Preserve. The tape was in a camera found near the bear-buried remains of Treadwell, 46, and Huguenard, 37.

Troopers spokesman Greg Wilkinson said there are no pictures on the tape, leading troopers to believe the attack might have happened while the camera was stuffed in a duffle bag or during the dark of night. Treadwell had talked to an associate in Malibu, Calif., by satellite phone around noon Sunday. He mentioned no problems with any bears.

The remains of the Southern Californians who periodically came to Alaska to live intimately with the bears were found the next day. A large but scrawny old bear with bad teeth that a pilot had seen sitting on the brush and dirt pulled over the bodies was shot and killed by National Park Service rangers at the scene after it charged them.

Troopers Wednesday refused requests to release the audiotape, but said it convinced them the two people had been killed by a bear. Speculation about whether a bear had actually done the killing had been fueled by Treadwell's oft-stated but unsubstantiated claim that he spent summers at Katmai to protect the bears from poachers and sport hunters.

"I'm their lifeguard,'' he told a reporter for The Davis (Calif.) Enterprise in 1999. "I'm there to keep the poachers and sport hunters away. I'm much more likely to be killed by an angry sport hunter than a bear.''

The Kaflia Bay area of Alaska's Gulf Coast -- where Treadwell spent most of his time in the state -- has long been closed to sport hunters, and Katmai rangers said there is no history of poachers killing bears in the area.

When bears die, they are usually killed by other brown bears, said park superintendent Deb Liggett, noting that 90 percent of the cubs each year are killed, and often eaten, by other brown bears. Adult bears sometimes kill each other there, too.

In this case, Wilkinson said, troopers are confident a bear was also responsible for killing the Malibu couple. Troopers are also convinced, he added, that the bear seen feeding on their bodies was the bear killed by Park Service rangers. There is no way, however, of knowing whether that bear or another shot by troopers at the scene did the actual killing.

The tape full of screams and rustling sounds details the attack, Wilkinson said, but adds little to explain exactly what happened or why. The tape, he said, lasts about three minutes. Scratching and dragging noises on it have led troopers to believe Treadwell might have been wearing a body mike when the attack began.

After Treadwell calls for help, Wilkinson said, Huguenard can be heard shouting "play dead.'' That is the recommended response to being grabbed by a brown or grizzly bear, but authorities stress the idea of playing dead should be abandoned if the bear continues to press the attack.

On the tape, shortly after the warning to "play dead,'' Wilkinson said, "Huguenard is heard to scream "fight back.'' Treadwell later yells "hit him with a pan,'' Wilkinson said.

After that, the tape goes dead. Because there are no pictures, troopers believe it is most likely the bear came in the night. The tent in which Treadwell and Huguenard had been camping showed no signs of being ripped open by a bear trying to attack people inside, but a friend of Treadwell's said it was common for him to leave the tent in the dark to confront bears that approached his camp.

"His way of operating was to get out of the tent immediately when he heard a bear around,'' Juneau filmmaker Joel Bennett said Wednesday. "He subscribed to the theory that the worst thing you could do was stay in the tent."

Bennett knew the flamboyant Treadwell well. Only two weeks before Treadwell's death they had spent weeks on Kodiak Island working on a Disney film about bears.

"You probably know that I've done three full-length films with him,'' Bennett said. "There's no question he had a remarkable repertoire with bears and had a remarkable ability for them to tolerate him ... (but) just so people don't get the wrong idea, Tim definitely knew there were bears out there that were bad medicine.

"This incident sounds to me like it had nothing to do with his work during the day to look at bears or photograph bears. It was a campsite situation.''

Dozens of scientists, bear guides and outdoor authorities who have spent their lives around Alaska's bruins have criticized Treadwell's daytime activities. The Californian had a seemingly overwhelming need to get close to bears.

"He was a strange dude,'' said Joe Darminio, a former guide at the Newhalen Lodge who used to take bear-viewing tourists to meet Treadwell. Many of the tourists, Darminio added, recognized Treadwell from television or his book, "Among Grizzlies -- Living with Wild Bears in Alaska.''

Opinions among the tourists were split on whether Treadwell's bear-stalking antics were crazy, but Darminio said there was agreement the blond Californian in the black Carhartt's with the bandana tied around his head like a pirate was entertaining.

It was hard to avoid being shocked or impressed by the fearless way he eased up to within feet of some of the most powerful predators on the continent. Treadwell said he could calm them by talking in his high-pitched sing-song voice and tell from their body language whether they posed any threat.

"He really was a Dian Fossey in that way,'' Bennett said. "She could have been killed by one swipe of a gorilla at any time. Dian Fossey got close to the gorillas. She touched them. Timmy did not encourage other people to do this. He says over and over in his films, 'Do not do this. Do not copy me.' It's obviously not something people should do, but it's something that he did."

Huguenard was exposed to Treadwell's daring antics at a grizzly bear presentation in Boulder, Colo. A graduate of the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine with a degree in molecular biology from the University of Colorado in Boulder, she knew trying to get close to brown bears was dangerous, but went along with Treadwell anyway.

"It was part of her life,'' sister Kathie Stowell told The Times' newspaper in their old hometown of Valparaiso, Ind. "They had a passion and that overrode everything.

"She definitely died, according to her, in the most beautiful, pristine place on earth.''

First, as a life-long Alaskan I make no apologies for calling this man and his "partner" bona fide idiots. It wasn't tragic, it was inevitable. The direct result of profound ignorance AND stupidity (there is a difference.) Second, I'm really unconcerned about the "poor" brown bears. They were 'hanging around' more than 48 hours after the killings. Regardless, a bear killed in defense of life or property is no less dead, or "worse" than killing one in the hunting season (which there isn't in Katmai).

So, for the fools; "You were living on borrowed time anyway." and for the bears, dead is dead.

Paul

gitano, welcome to the boards,
However first things first, we agree on the idiots, they got what they deserved. They definatly had it coming.
Secondly, the worse part about it is this. these bears would not have been killed if it were not for the "fools" provoking these creatures to do, what everybody with just a little sense would have known, and does know.
As far as the bears sticking around for 48 hours after the killings, big deal, they were protecting their food cache, I will do this also with my refrigerator.
And yes, I am so far a life long lower 48'er. although I will hopefully be changing this in the early summer, late fall 04'.

John

http://adn.com/front/story/4127139p-4142019c.html

Biologist believes errors led to attack
BEARS: Californians' choices may have contributed to fatal encounter.


By CRAIG MEDRED
Anchorage Daily News

(Published: October 10, 2003)
Human remains and clothing found in the stomach of a 28-year-old brown bear killed by National Park Service rangers Monday have confirmed that the animal fed on the bodies of California animal activist Timothy Treadwell and girlfriend Amie Huguenard, authorities reported Thursday.

Fresh details about the attack near Kaflia Bay in Katmai 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 in the lake or walk right next to the tent. 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 described "his campsite as (in) a potentially dangerous location, but he expresses his confidence that he understands these bears and they will not harm him.''

On Wednesday, Fish and Game dispatched Van Daele -- author of a book on the history of the 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 bear to kill and eat humans is unknown,'' Van Daele concluded. "It was very old but not in remarkably poor 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 Wednesday found two bears competing to eat the carcass of an adolescent bear also killed by rangers on Monday, Van Daele stressed that he saw nothing to indicate "strange bear behavior occurring in the area.''

Alaska brown bears commonly scavenge any mammal carcasses they find, but attacks on humans are rare and cases of brown bears actually eating humans are so uncommon that even calling them rare would be an overstatement.

Audubon Society biologist John Schoen and other experts on Alaska grizzly and brown bears on Thursday pointed out that Treadwell's proclivity for trying to get close to Alaska bears for more than a decade illustrates nothing so much as the bears' amazing tolerance for humans. The self-proclaimed former drug addict and 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 shows Ms. Huguenard within 3 meters (10 feet) of a sow with cubs as they fish,'' Van Daele wrote.

"One of the cubs came even closer to her while (Treadwell) filmed. She seemed uncomfortable but did not move. Some journal entries suggest that she was not as comfortable with the situation as he was. One of the last of his journal entries described his dismay as a large, adult male fought with one of his (Treadwell's) favorite sows near the camp.''

Such fights among bears are not uncommon, particularly late in the year when the bears are scrambling to put on as much fat as possible before winter. A poor berry crop this year and tapering salmon runs would only compound the situation, said Van Daele, who noted that the smaller brown bear killed in the area by park rangers and Alaska State Troopers on Monday had been largely eaten by other bears by Wednesday.

Rangers, troopers and Fish and Game biologists had to drive one bear off what was left of the carcass and shoo away another lurking in the alders nearby in order to investigate Treadwell's camp. They literally battled their way in, firing firecracker shells and using the whoop-whoop-whooping of a helicopter overhead to drive the animals away and keep them 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. This goes on for about six minutes and starts with (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 retreated for a couple minutes but returned. It again went after him, and he begged her to hit it with something. She in turn screamed for him to fight. The audio ends with his sounds no longer evident and her screams continuing.

"Based on all the evidence, I would guess that this old, large boar had been hanging around the areas getting the last fish of the season. There was little else available to eat, and he competed with the sow for food. Although not in bad condition, he needed more fat for the winter.

"That evening, probably Sunday night, (the male) was walking along a major bear trail and walked by the tent. When he encountered Mr. Treadwell, the bear reacted and either bit him and/or hit him. When he 'played dead,' the bear left, but as is often the case, when Mr. Treadwell started moving again, and/or Ms. Huguenard came to his aid, the bear returned.

"At this time, for some reason, the bear killed and ate him. I suspect that Ms. Huguenard's screams, which sound eerily like a predator call, may have prompted the bear to return and kill her. He then cached 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 boar that fed upon Treadwell and Huguenard -- and is likely the one that killed them both -- was estimated to weigh more than 1,000 pounds and had broken canine teeth. Van Daele doesn't think the other bear that rangers shot at the scene Monday, an apparent 3-year-old, had anything to do with the killings. That bear's stomach, along with most of its carcass, had already been consumed by other bears.

"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 methods or bear deterrents in the camp, were directly responsible for this catastrophic event.''

Treadwell had carried bear-repelling spray for self-protection when he first began coming to Alaska to commune 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 was an invasive, aggressive mechanism that translated into a kind of attitude. He didn't want to have that attitude,'' said friend Joel Bennett, a Juneau filmmaker. "He kind of wanted to resign himself to whatever happened.''

Aren't there laws against wildlife harassment? Why wasn't this guy prosecuted long ago to protect the bears (and other people) from his actions?

A fellow on a airplane list I belong to posted this:


Just thought that I would take a moment to let all of you know a bit about the Brown Bear attacks in Alaska last week. My son is an Alaska State Trooper based in Kodiak. He received the call to take the Cessna 206 on floats across the Shelikof Straits to the site of the attacks. Once there, he was forced to dispatch the 1,000 lb. Brown Bear that later proved to be the "killer" of the two California "Hippies"/Druggies. He accomplished this with his issue Remington 870 12 ga.

Shortly afterwards, he was also forced to "take-out" two other bear, one that was about 350 lbs., that was stalking them, and another that seemed to be wanting to get some easy meat. The papers stated that Park Rangers accomplished this, with handguns. Chris said that when he surveyed the scene, there wasn't any "handgun" shells around. He used slugs in all of his shots, and stated that a shot into the forehead, just ain't the spot to use. The slug simply bounced off. The shots into the neck and shoulder did the job. He also told me that none of the reports in the media quoted him correctly. The main thing that I wanted to get across, is that the 12 ga. shotgun is perhaps the best survival gun that you can carry. You just need to vary your ammo for the task at hand.

A couple of boxes of 12 ga. in slugs, #8's and perhaps #4's, should see you through most situations. Jim

Aren't there laws against wildlife harassment? Why wasn't this guy prosecuted long ago to protect the bears (and other people) from his actions?

it probably would have gotten his Hollywood friends in an uproar

I remember when stupidity used to hurt...there was a lot less of it back then.

Welcome to the board, Ray Wells - be sure to check out all the other forums. Something for everyone, here!

It is always sad when something like this happens! "Fools rush in where the wise fear to tread"
Each year, here in Florida, we have people killed by gators that have been feed and lost their fear of man. Each year we have hikers cut up bad by wild hogs when they pick up the "pretty piggies!" All the warning is never listened to! We have dealers, who have never shot a real wild hog, put handguns in the hands of novice hunters, who can't handle them!
It reminds me of the 1960's when we had to pull drowned new scuba divers out each weekend. Buy a tank and jump in!
It's sad, but it just has to run its course......Best Regards, James

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=624&u=/ap/20040103/ap_on_sc/among_grizzlies_2&printer=1

Has a bit more information on Treadwell's "colorful" past and "non-profit" status.

It is a shame that the bear had to die, but like they say once a man eater always a man eater...but the really sad thing is you know that there is going to be more warnings and restrictions on these parks limiting where visitors can go. It's true bears are dangerous so don't **** with them, but it doesn't mean they are out to get you. I've run into bears hunting multiple times and never had to kill one. Best thing to do is back away slowly, do not turn your back on them until they are well out of site. Then walk as fast as possible back to safety.

It's unfortunate that Hollywood's fantasies are the only reality most of our urban-suburban population knows. It's really sad that most people actually think these fantasies are the truth.
In my first job after college, my employer teamed me with a Canadian from Northern Ontario and a guy from Seattle. The Canadian was an experienced outdoorsman. The guy from Seattle informed us that he was an expert in wildlife behaviour (yes, he actually used those words) because he had grown up in Seattle and Seattle has a lot of deer, coyotes, and other wildlife around and because he had watched the TV program "Grizzly Adams".
Another guy I worked with (on a different job) expressed astonishment that the police didn't just shoot out the tires of a car that they'd trapped in a traffic circle. (They just kept the exits blocked and allowed the perp to drive around in a circle until he was out of gas.) We had to explain to him that one doesn't use deadly force against speeders even when it means having to waste a lot of time.
The point is, these people were both educated and intelligent. In fact, they both have engineering degrees. However, thru ignorance they'd bought into Hollywood's vision and thought it really represented reality instead of a producer's and screen writer's idea of a fantasy that people might pay to experience.

We get caught up in a similar thing with gun writers and magazines. You don't sell steak, you sell sizzle. People won't buy your magazine unless it sizzles.

Treadwell obviously appreciated that. He was a good enough salesman to understand that he needed to sell himself first, so he replaced his prosaic background and name with something that has sizzle. He then attached himself to an exotic environment (yes, it is exotic to those of us in the lower 48) and a critter that's human enough to allow us to anthropomorphize from the largest, most dangerous predator on the North American continent into a "party animal".

A surprising portion of our population, particularly around Malibu, are very receptive to such a message. I think it has to do with unresolved feelings of rebellion against their parents. It would be easy to transfer feelings of hostility from parents over to other authority figures such as state wildlife biologists. (Just who does this so-and-so think he is, telling me to respect the bear for being a bear! I ain't gonna!)

Of course, lots of people go the other way and accept uncritically whatever The Authority Figure tells them. This gets into big problems with science because science isn't a body of knowledge. Science is just a bunch of scientists agueing and then performing experiments in an (sometimes vain) attempt to solve the arguement.

91

Just cleanin' upl the gene pool. Too bad it didn't happen before he'd lied to so many youngsters. Pepe Ray

Life's tough.

It's tougher when you're stupid.

Shorter too, it seems.

:D

I agree completely with all the above statements. Well said, Gentlemen!

Park Service says mauling not at night
TREADWELL: Time stamp evidence makes provocation a likelier cause.

By CRAIG MEDRED
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: January 6, 2004)

The bear-mauling deaths of Californians Timothy Treadwell and Amie Huguenard -- widely believed to have happened in the dark of night along the Katmai coast in October -- actually appear to have occurred at midday, according to a new report from the National Park Service.

The report, released Dec. 29 by a technical board of investigation for Katmai National Park, says the attack began at 1:58 p.m. Oct. 5. The time is based on a date stamp found in a digital video camera the couple turned on just before the attack.

The digital video contains the sounds of the attack but no pictures. Missy Epping, acting chief ranger for Katmai, said she learned of the date stamp from Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist Larry Van Daele of Kodiak. Van Daele headed a state investigation into what might have caused the bear attack.

The deaths of Treadwell and Huguenard, however, were investigated by Alaska State Troopers, who have yet to issue a report. Troopers originally said Treadwell's camera had no date stamp, but Van Daele said a Kodiak trooper in late December told him there was a time record.

An afternoon attack changes the thinking about what might have happened at Kaflia Bay, according to bear experts. It was previously assumed the couple were surprised by a grizzly in camp at night, that Treadwell left their tent to confront that bear and that the situation deteriorated.

"I don't know what to say now,'' said John Schoen, a bear authority with the Audubon Society in Alaska. "Were they in their tent asleep, taking a nap or something? Did they try to lure the bear in? Who knows?''

"I guess it makes it in my mind probably less likely that it was some sort of misunderstanding and more likely he provoked the bear,'' said Bruce Bartley of Fish and Game.

Treadwell and Huguenard are believed to have been killed by a 1,000-pound adult male grizzly. Van Daele removed Treadwell's remains from the stomach of such a bear. Park rangers shot and killed the animal after it charged them when they went to investigate the camp where a bush pilot reported seeing Huguenard's remains buried in a bear's food cache.

Troopers who arrived on the scene later found the pictureless videotape with the sounds of the attack and journals kept by the couple. Troopers have refused to discuss any of those documents. Troopers spokesman Greg Wilkinson said Monday that troopers are still under orders not to talk about the case. He couldn't confirm whether the new information about the time stamp came from a troopers investigation or from Grizzly People, a Malibu, Calif.-based organization founded to finance Treadwell's forays among the bears in Alaska.

Shortly after the deaths of Treadwell and Huguenard, an attorney for Grizzly People threatened to sue the state if it released any information about the attack. Troopers promptly shipped all documents and tapes south to Grizzly People.

A federal official involved in the investigation told the Daily News that law enforcement officials discussed concerns that if they held the tapes and documents, the items could be subject to state or federal public records laws. There were particular worries, the official said, that the tape might be obtained and broadcast by a tabloid television show.

The troopers have repeatedly refused to talk about the case.

The Daily News submitted a public records request to troopers on Oct. 7. On Oct. 29, troopers Director Col. Julie Grimes responded: "This department is not in possession of a copy of the tape. As I'm sure you know, the tape was returned to the representative of the estate of the owner, along with other property found at the location.''

Katmai's Epping said even the Park Service found state troopers uncooperative. The technical board's report notes that "because the state troopers' investigation was not completed when the board convened, the board relied on the testimony of Larry Van Daele regarding the contents of the videotape recovered from the incident site that recorded some of what transpired.''

The board did not have a copy of the tape for review, nor did it have access to the journals. Van Daele said he got a brief look at the journals but did not get the chance to examine them to see whether they provided any insight into what might have happened.

In a telephone interview, Van Daele added that he is sticking with his original conclusion: that Treadwell and Huguenard died because of the poor choice of a campsite on a bear throughway and the chance encounter there with a bear that had a bad attitude.

But he admitted that the latest information does add to the mystery, particularly given that it now appears Treadwell told Huguenard to turn on the camera. It was originally thought that he only wanted to record the sounds of a nighttime encounter, but the fact that it was a daytime encounter challenges that premise.

"Why the heck would they turn it on without taking the lens camp off?'' Van Daele asked. "I've played this over in my mind so many times, and I can't figure that part out.''

Deadly ending
Treadwell, girlfriend may have argued about dangers
By CRAIG MEDRED
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: March 28, 2004)

Timothy Treadwell, author and co-founder of the grass-roots environmental group Grizzly People, was 46 on Oct. 5 when he and girlfriend Amie Huguenard were killed and partially eaten by a grizzly at Kaflia Bay.

Huguenard's voice can be heard on the pictureless videotape calling to Treadwell to "play dead."

Evidence suggests Treadwell returned to Kaflia Bay after he got angry with an airline employee.

The mauling deaths of Californian Timothy Treadwell and girlfriend Amie Huguenard at Alaska's Kaflia Bay in October may have begun with something as simple as the celebrity bear-man leaving his lunch to shoo away a wandering grizzly.

After more than a decade of summers spent hanging out among the bears of the Katmai coast, Treadwell considered himself a friend and companion of these bears. But Alaska State Troopers and other people who have reviewed evidence gathered after the couple died believe Huguenard was becoming increasingly nervous about life among the bears.

Newly released reports from troopers hint the two may have been arguing about the danger.

Nearly 70 pages of troopers memos, on-the-scene reports from National Park Service rangers, property records and maps were obtained by the Daily News in response to several Freedom of Information Act requests over a span of almost six months.

The records confirm that Treadwell, 46, and Huguenard, 37, were attacked just after 1:45 in the afternoon on Oct. 5 -- not at night, as originally believed -- and shed new details on what the couple might have been doing before the attack. Among the many documents in the report is one detailing the small amount of food that had earlier been reported found in the couple's flattened but otherwise undamaged tent.

The food, according to the report, consisted of:

• A small Butterfinger candy bar.

• A bottle of juice.

• A "hot dog or bratwurst.''

• Chips.

Given that menu, the time of day and a pictureless videotape said to record the sounds of rain hammering the couple's tent just before the bear attack, John Hechtel, an authority on bears with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, said it is reasonable to conclude the couple had ducked into their only shelter in the brushy but treeless landscape to escape the weather and enjoy lunch.

Then they either saw or heard a bear approaching their camp. A videotape containing the sounds of what happened next indicates Treadwell went out into the weather to confront the bear. Troopers reports indicate Treadwell was dressed for going outside, not spending the day lounging inside the tent. Over his normal clothing, he wore nylon overpants made by Patagonia, one of several companies that supported Treadwell's annual summer sojourns among the bears on the coast of Katmai National Park, and a "nylon-lined, polyester insulated'' shirt or jacket.

Friends of Treadwell say it was his norm to try to chase bears out of his camp. Many professional bear biologists say they have done likewise but add they would be reluctant to confront the sort of mature, 1,000-pound adult boar that Treadwell apparently met that day.

Big grizzly males -- animals accustomed to ruling the wilderness in which they live -- "make me a lot more nervous than any others,'' Hechtel said, echoing the words of just about every scientist who has worked around Alaska grizzlies. Even Treadwell, in his 1997 book "Among Grizzlies,'' admitted to the potential danger posed by these bears. He described a chilling encounter with one such bear in the alder thickets that surround Kaflia Lake.

"This was Demon, who some experts label the '25th Grizzly,' the one that tolerates no man or bear, the one that kills without bias,'' Treadwell wrote. "I had thought Demon was going to kill me in the Grizzly Maze.''

The Grizzly Maze is what Treadwell called the area around Kaflia Bay and two small lakes that drain into the bay. The lakes support a late run of salmon that attracts the bears and attracted Treadwell. He usually spent the month of September there. Last fall, he was staying unusually late in the maze with Huguenard, and the troopers report indicates that things were not going well between the couple.

"I read the last several entries of the journals" kept by Treadwell and Huguenard, trooper Chris Hill wrote in one report to superiors. "They did not indicate anything unusual other than some arguing amongst Treadwell and Huguenard. Excepts (sic) of the Huguenard's journey (sic) did indicate that she was more or less afraid of the bears.''

If Treadwell and Huguenard were arguing over the dangers presented by the bears at Kaflia, and if Huguenard was growing increasingly nervous about the bears, Treadwell might have had even more incentive than normal to drop his lunch and chase the day's intruder out of camp.

Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist Larry Van Daele, who viewed some videotapes that Treadwell and Huguenard recorded before their deaths, said it was obvious the woman was uneasy about being in the maze.

One "video shows Ms. Huguenard within three meters (10 feet) of a sow with cubs as they fish,'' Van Daele said. "One of the cubs came even closer to her while (Treadwell) filmed. She seemed uncomfortable but did not move. Some journal entries suggest that she was not as comfortable with the situation as he was.''

Treadwell, Van Daele said, in one video described "his campsite as (in) a potentially dangerous location, but he expresses his confidence that he understands these bears and they will not harm him.''

The videotapes and journals themselves were not available to the Daily News. Troopers say they were turned over to the executor and sole beneficiary of Treadwell's will -- Jewel Palovak of Malibu, Calif. Palovak was the co-author of "Among Grizzlies'' and Treadwell's partner in a nonprofit organization called Grizzly People.

Grizzly People, according to its Web site, "is a grassroots organization devoted to preserving bears and their wilderness habitat. Our goal is to elevate the grizzly to the kindred state of the whale and dolphin through supportive education in the hopes that humans will learn to live in peace with the bear, wilderness and fellow humans."

The organization claimed all donations it collected were used to fund:

• Annual four-month expeditions to protect the bears and other wild animals of Alaska.

• Photographic wildlife studies.

• Educational wildlife videos.

• Educational campaign in North American schools.

• Sharing of Grizzly People's photographs with other preservation organizations.

All of those activities were conducted by Treadwell, but usually in close communication with Palovak. In fact, only seven hours after troopers and park rangers had first gone to investigate a possible bear attack at Kaflia Bay -- more than 24 hours before the attacks would become public knowledge -- Palovak was on the phone to troopers in Kodiak trying to confirm a report from local air-taxi operator Dean Andrew that Treadwell might have been killed by a bear, according to troopers reports.

According to a memo from Hill, she offered help in contacting Treadwell's parents, volunteering that he "was estranged from his family so he didn't talk with them often." And she noted she had "power of attorney for Treadwell and would like to receive his belongings, to include his journals.''

Within days, Palovak also had a Los Angeles legal firm asking Alaska officials that "to protect the interest of the family of the decedent, we request that you refrain from further public dissemination of private information and materials, including, without limitation, the content of audiovisual tapes.''

Shortly after getting that letter, troopers imposed an information blackout. When the Park Service convened a Technical Board of Investigation in December to try to determine what had transpired to lead to the two deaths at Kaflia Bay two months earlier, it still couldn't obtain any information from troopers. It wasn't until after the board had completed its initial report, based on the assumption the attack happened in camp at night, that it learned troopers had known for some time that the attack actually came at midday.

According to the documents obtained by the Daily News, trooper Sgt. Maurice I. Hughes Jr. on Oct. 9 -- three days after Treadwell was discovered dead -- talked to a friend of the author and filmmaker in Malibu who explained how to retrieve the date-time stamp in Treadwell's digital video camera. Hughes said he subsequently discovered that the tape of Treadwell and Huguenard being mauled ran from 4:47:23 p.m. to 4:53:44 p.m. -- a span of 6 minutes, 21 seconds -- but that the camera was set to record the time for a time zone three hours ahead of Alaska.

Troopers knew then that the attack had occurred from 1:47 to 1:53 p.m. Alaska time on Oct. 5, but they were publicly saying there was no date-time stamp on the video. Not only in Alaska, but nationally and internationally, that led to widespread speculation that Treadwell and Huguenard had been attacked by a marauding grizzly at night.

The troopers reports shed no new light on what was on that pictureless videotape. Van Daele and others who have heard the audio have said there are the sounds of heavy rain, shouts from Huguenard to Treadwell to "play dead,'' pleas from Treadwell to Huguenard for help, including his request she hit the bear with a pan, and lastly Huguenard wailing.

There had been speculation that Treadwell, who often wore a microphone to record sounds when getting close to bears, might have been "miked up" when the attack started, but the new troopers documents indicate that was unlikely. An evidence report says his remote microphone was found in the same protective box with the camera inside the tent where he and Huguenard had apparently been lunching.

The reports do, however, suggest a new reason Treadwell might have gone back to the Grizzly Maze at a time when he was normally gone from there. Palovak told troopers, according to the reports, that Treadwell "was originally gonna do a driving trip to Denali Park for some different photo footage. (But) he was worried that one of his favorite bears wasn't sighted on an earlier trip to Kaflia and (he) wanted to go back.''

Hughes reported finding information in Treadwell's journals that put a different spin on things.

"It appeared Treadwell returned to Kaflia Bay because he realized that was where he wanted to be,'' Hughes said. "He canceled a driving trip around Alaska with Huguenard because he became angry with an airline employee about the cost of a change fee for their flight from Kodiak.''

Biologists and bear-viewing guides who knew Treadwell and watched his behavior along the Katmai coast for years said such an action is not out of character. Treadwell, said U.S. Geological Survey bear researcher Tom Smith, often displayed strange behaviors, sometimes fleeing at the site of other people, sometimes confronting them.

Treadwell sometimes liked to brag about how he protected bears at Kaflia by confronting poachers, though no evidence has surfaced that such confrontations took place or even that there were any poachers operating in the area. Park Service officials have no reports of poaching problems and add that it is hard to believe poachers would try to operate in one of the state's most heavily visited bear-viewing areas. Thousands of people now go to view the Katmai bears every summer, and the air-taxi companies that have made a big business of bear viewing are highly protective of the animals.

Still, Treadwell had told enough tales of poachers to California audiences that Hill, according to one of his reports, "received a telephone call from Rosemary White with the Sierra Club. She expressed her insight of the events regarding Treadwell's death being most likely committed by a hunter, due to Treadwell's past reports of having run-ins with poachers and Treadwell's acceptance by the bear population.''

An autopsy later confirmed both Treadwell and Huguenard had been killed by a bear. Troopers and park rangers who investigated the deaths of Treadwell and Huguenard believe they killed that bear -- a 1,000-pound male -- after it threatened them. The air-taxi pilot who'd first reported problems at Kaflia said the dead bear appeared to be the same one he saw sitting on a food cache from which some of Treadwell's remains were recovered. More of Treadwell's body, along with some of his clothing, was found in the bear when Van Daele performed a necropsy to see if there was anything wrong with the animal.

"We know we got one right bear, or there's very strong evidence of that,'' said acting medical examiner Franc Fallico. Fallico noted, however, that it would have been impossible to specifically match bite marks from the bear with the remains because of the damage done by the animal trying to eat the people.

Other than being 28 years old -- old for a grizzly -- and having bad teeth, Van Daele said the animal appeared to be in good condition. It was a little lean, he said, but nowhere near what might be considered starving. Why it decided to attack, kill and then partially consume two people is clearly never going to known, Hechtel said.

The bear's behavior will forever remain almost as much of a mystery as Timothy Dexter, the man who became Treadwell.

Hill said his father, Valentine Dexter, "informed me that Treadwell had actually changed his last name from Dexter to Treadwell, a stage name he had used while pursuing an entertainment career.''

Treadwell never made the big time in Hollywood. But he wrote a book, made the "The Late Show With David Letterman," starred in a couple movies about bears, put on his one-man shows for schoolchildren and environmentalists and acted as an adviser to the Disney Co. on the animated feature film "Brother Bear.''

"Brother Bear" opened three weeks after Treadwell's death, and quickly faded.

The legend of Timothy Treadwell, however, remains.

Let's see if I've got this right; some nut job from Kali goes to Alaska with his girlfriend to commune with bears. They get eaten, and it's on the audio portion of a videotape, but according to the Sierra Club it was a hunter? Good riddance to bad rubbish I say. Seems like he got his wish to become bear dung. Definitely the alltime winner of the Darwin Award.

When are people going to learn that we call wild animals wild for a reason? Yes, I second the motion for the darwin awards. In '99 or '00 I took a trip up to alaska and while I was there I visited the university of alaska, Fairbanks. When we entered the university the rent-a-cop told us that it was illegal to give animals beer on camus. When I asked why, he told me that several months ago one of the fraternities were having a party when they observed a large moose on campus. Well they decided to let the moose in on the festivities and gave him some beer, alot of beer, so much beer that the moose became intoxicated. Then two guys decided to go "pet" the drunk moose, aparently he was a violent drunk cause he killed one, and sent the other to icu for a week with many broken bones, so currently it is againt college policy to give animals beer on campus...

I was Bush Pilot , guide out of Egegik 8 years, Katmai and all around Becherof lake was our area,

quick comment to green piece type people that hike in Bear/salmon area..

the last bear I cleaned had 3 beer cans in its stomack, they will eat anything in its path, that means you
too, anyone that thinks they can walk around
that country , and believes bells whistles shoughting etc will save them, they will join the other victims,
what really grips me is I was one of the last to fly people into the beautifull Katmai, take people fishing at contact creek , featherly, watch the carabo swim across the east end of the lake by the thousands

thanks to concrete city people , now no wheeled vehicles etc can go in that country to enjoy it.

you can only walk in and commit suicide

quicker by bear ,, or slow by enviourment
"Gnats" no seem`s. lower 48 lawmakers don`t even know what they are !

guess i should have been a city guy , I can`t find spell check , they hate us too!

i have an idea
if it weighs a ton and has teeth and happens to hungry
i aint messing with it
simple.....

kinda like electricity ,can`t see it , don`t mess with it , whats that got to do with killing bears with pistols?,,they should post more pictures of hides streached on the side of a barn.......when its your turn all you can see is fur!!

Clearly these two waded in the shallow end of the human gene pool. I have no sympathy or remorse for them whatsoever. I just look at it as gene pool improvement.

That fellow had a classic case of "terminal stupidity."

The gene pool has indeed been improved.

****, we've been domesticating canines for thousands of years and they still kill a bunch of humans every day. Sorry for their families' losses. I really am. But I hope the message sent to other tree huggers won't cost other lives.

This helps suport the old cliche " Bears are Bears and Tigers are Tigers " etc etc etc. The teenagers of beardom are usually the worst offenders because they are teenagers. We live in a society that continualy tries to humanize animals to make money. How many animated funny animal movies have been made in the last few years??? They make films about Judy the sea lion and Hanns the muskox and we wonder why stupid people get killed and mauled?? The so called experts have it all figured out as they wisper in the camera announcing their superier intellect as the five year old Brownie grazes in the back ground. He expounds on why bears do this and dont do that. Bears are like people ask any old bear guide. Catch them in a bad mood and you can use your diploma to stuff into the gaping wounds the five year old gave you for being a pain in the arse and not letting him alone. More shold be eaten but made to sign a waiver that states no wilde life shall be destoyed because of you intelectuial stupidity. Hard Cast

The sad part is that 2 bears had to die because of those two "experts". I hearby nominate them for this years Darwin awards and Mr. Treadwell for Darwin Man of the Year! Nature has no patience for fools or stupid people. CEJ...

Well you hit the nail on the head. He was brain dead from all the drugs. Was he the guy who use to bathe with bears while they were eating salmon. I guess they could tell the bear that eate his partner ; by the film in his spor.

I guess that I'm more "hard-line" against this type of foolishness. I think that the guy was a moron and it's too bad that the bears had to be killed for doing what bears do. They are carnivores and should be treated as such. I have NO SYMPATHY for the victims!

Its a documentary now - totally ridiculous. I saw it last summer I think its called "Grizzly Man" or something similar to that. Basically the guy was a little out of touch with reality and got what was coming to him. Unfortunately he survived enough times to convince his girlfriend it was safe and she went along and got ripped apart too....its worth watching if you have netflix or something but don't buy it!