This guy was so far out you couldn’t find someone to write this story as fiction… It came across more like a macabre comedy than a tradgedy. I think one of the people interviewed hit the nail on the head when they remarked, “I think that the only reason that the bears didn’t go after him earlier was that they figured there was something wrong with him or something.” Most of his supporters seem to be the types that you would give a wide berth on a sidewalk also… YOUWZA!@#$% You got to see it to believe it, no REALLY, you do… Sobering that all his ashes fit in a Copenhagen tin- including some bear remains also.
[This message has been edited by backbeach (edited 04 February 2006).]
I saw the trailer for the show.I figured it wasn’t worth the time to watch it.IMHO Death due to self inflicted stupidity.I live in bear country and even my 8 yr. old is sharp enough to realize that big hairy things with sharp teeth and claws might be a little higher on the food chain than he is.
my wife is a psychotherapist and I was one years ago. We had an absolute blast assigning mental diagnosis (plural?) to that poor human being. Unbelievable movie - worth seeing just so you know your head is on right compared to his.
as one of the people they interviewed said “He got what he deserved” Harsh statement I know…But what else could he ultimately have expected!?. Their Not Teddy Bears!!!
from what i understand the only reason he was able to get away with his crazy “research” as long as he did was he was in bear country when food was plentiful. when he was killed it was at a time he would normally have been done for the season, and food for the bears was scarce. i think he deserved punishment for naming the bears things like “mr. chocolate!”
I too have only seen the trailers. I did see a show about Alaska’s bears a few months ago and they had a little snippit of him and what he was doing.
I don’t think he had both oars in the water. These are wild bears, what did he expect from them? A group hug, because he gave them cute names?
Just curious as to who funded this “research” and what was the “scientific” conclusion he was seeking to establish, prove or disprove?
Misdirected, naive and patently stupid.The sorrow I feel is for the young lady he convinced to accompany him who also was killed. THAT is the horrible shame.
Mark
[This message has been edited by Marco (edited 05 February 2006).]
Started to watch it and fell asleep.
Seems it came to a logical conclusion.
Too bad he took someone else with him.
Is it really moral to kill a bear with a full stomach…one that has just eaten a bunch of fruits and nuts?
…lee s.
This is a show that everybody should watch. Just so you can comment on it to the environmentalist fanatics.
It is a perfect example of Nature’s way to cull out the idiots.
The guy walks up to full grown grizzlies and sticks his hand out like you would to a strange dog.
Walks up to twin cubs and wants to play with them.
Videos (at close range) two huge grizzly boars fighting for a female. (The fight got so intense that one of the bears crapped all over.)
They had the audio tape (the lens had been left on the camera) of their death throws but wouldn’t play it. The director said that anyone who would want to hear it is morbid. Although he listened to it himself ???
They never really showed the girlfriend, Amie up close but she did seem to be a looker. I was wondering, if it had been her time of the month. It was never mentioned in the film.
They did get the bear that had killed them. He was chocked full of the couple when he was killed. The bear had been moved a couple of years before to that area because he was an old problem bear. They had to take one of his teeth out, so you can guess what kind of a mood he was normally in.
Timothy wanted to be a movie star. This was proved because of all the clothing that was recovered, including five coats & jackets, every one contained a comb and a mirror. Guess he figured the film would make him famous some day. (It did.)
The only two people that make any sense in the film are the helicopter pilot and an Eskimo who runs the Bear Museum on Kodiak Island.
The pilot stated that they got exactly what they deserved.
The Eskimo explained how his people had always survived with the bears by letting them know that they were in the area and that his people had the means to kill them. The Eskimos also realized that the bears had the means and temperament to kill their people and gave the bears their space. A sort of 1000 year truce.
Problem with Timothy is he never looked up the word carnivore in the dictionary.
We had the same types in the 60’s in the National Parks. I don’t know if you remember the Craigheads. The Park Service finally banned them from the parks because they didn’t want them to get killed on their watch.
Tim and his girlfriend had been camping in an area that was named The Maze. Willow thickets so dense that you couldn’t see ten feet in front of you. They don’t think that the bear stumbled upon them in the dark though. It sounds like he had been looking for them. (Either ****** off and had enough of Tim’s harassment or my assumption, Amie’s time of the month.)
A good friend of mine, who knows somewhere in her brain that animals eat other animals for a living, but who spent a summer in Alaska as a bear watching guide and thinks they are warm and fuzzy (if not blue), sent me Treadwell’s book a few years ago, then took off on a weeklong job. When she got back there was a message on her phone from me saying “Thanks for the book, and oh by the way, did you see that he and his GF just got killed and eaten by his pet bears?”
Anyone who treats a wild animal as a pet risks what he got. Use your head.
This whole theory of bears being attracted to menstruation has been pretty well disproven.
The thing to keep in mind with wild animals like bears is that we are fragile in comparison to them. They can kill you BY ACCIDENT. God help you if they decide they WANT to kill you.
Jeremy
[This message has been edited by JeremyH (edited 05 February 2006).]
I didn’t see the whole show, but after watching some of it, I started thinking that the guy had sort of a naive PETA mentality. At any rate, he just pressed the same button one time too many. I just hope that even ONE person looking to act as Timothy had acted around those bears has wised up & changed their mind as a result of watching it. As stated before, they are amazing, majestic, WILD animals.
Mike
Just wish they’d have capped the poor bear so it would not have died in vain, I know black bear hair is relativily straight as opposed to the brown bear hair I’ve seen…wonder what Gizz hair is like…alot of good material went to waste…hasn’t anyone else thought of that?
Funny I never really followed this story back when.
I saw the doc on the Discovery channel this week. I was pleased that most of the doc showed this person as a an eccentic.
I’m sorry that the person with him was killed too, … but life happens.
I went over the aerial photos of the area and the site where they were camped. Animals wishing to traverse the area would have had too wade out into the water or go around. DUH!!
The only misleading element of this whole story (imho) is that you can have an unfortunate run in with a bear, … even if you don’t do such IDIOTIC things as Tim did.
Edit:
Also, … I agree with Chris, … one of the “heritages” of this idiot’s actions will be that some future Real Researchers will be put into the same scrap heap as him.
I found this interesting and googled tim’s name and read an article by someone talking about tim and his relationship with the bears. A line caught my attention:
“No one can explain what triggers predatory behavior in grizzlies.”
Ummm lets see, they are wild animals who eat meat to survive, seems pretty obvious to me.
Drew
A bum-legged old man and a drunk. That’s all you got?
That’s WHAT I got.
I too, saw the movie this weekend. I had to rent it as I will not get cable. I’d never get off the couch…
Anyway, yeah, that word “nut job” kept coming into my head! I also wonder about the gal who accompanied him. We’re all about assuming your own responsibility, right?!
Nut job! They’re apex predators…
Jeremy.
[This message has been edited by Jeremy (edited 05 February 2006).]
Drew, Chris and Chris;
There is a bear population here in Michigan. Recently the section West of me was logged off. We knew there was a bear in there and after the logging trash and bird feeders were not safe! It was a she bear with a cub by the way of the tracks.
Was she protective? Of course. Was she disturbed? of course. Would I be careful? You bet!! Let common sense prevail.
She may have moved further West into my Grouse hunting grounds. What am I going to do with a 20 ga. and #8 shot? Very little!! Just stay alert.
Cactus