How do you think you'll go? Peacefully in your sleep? In a bizzare freak accident? Well, one thing you can probably eliminate off that list is being eaten by a Grizzly. The funny thing is Tim Tredwell (star of the documentary Grizzly Man) who lived with bears in Alaska for over 13 years thought the same thing. It turned out he was wrong.
Living in the NW and having brief experience traveling in Alaska gives you the distinct understanding that those who live/grew up in Alaska are fully plugged into the ways of nature. What I mean to say is, their eyes are wide open to the realities - no mater how beautiful or brutal they might be. They have a deep respect for nature, even when they need to use if for their benefit. It's that type of understanding that I think Tim Tredwell sorely missed during his adventure in the Alaskan bush "protecting" the bears (not these bears). He was for sure deft in his approach and developed a sense of living with the bears that was unique, but when it came down to it, he was one step too low on the food chain weeks before hibernation.
If you've seen the film, I'd love to know what you think since there seems to be two distinct groups after viewing it - those who think he had a death wish and got what was inevitable, and those who think it was a bad bear attacking someone who had become a bear himself.
The bear link is hillarious, lord. Anyway, I think that old Tim loved nature, but hand a fundamental misunderstanding of the land and who he was living with. It feels like it would be the same as a person sleeping in a room with 1000 mousetraps and happens to not set one off for a long time, but it is enevitable to trip one sometime. His is just another cautionary tale of human arrogance no matter how well intentioned it may be. I do have to say that his experience must have been fucking amazing until he got eaten.....not the best way to go. I am sure that he thought that he was the Jane Goodall of bears, but there is just a slight differece in the size of the animals brains. I mean shit, eaten alive, you have to be kidding me. I thought that drowning would be bad. I think he was partially or all crazy. He could have been eaten in year one, but nobody makes movies about that.
Posted by: D-town | February 27, 2006 at 04:31 PM
Right on D-town. I think the only think worse might be the slow eating-to-death the people endured who got lost scuba diving in Open Water.
Posted by: stinkeye | February 27, 2006 at 05:04 PM
You should check out the "You Shouldnt Be Alive" on Discovery where 6 people got on a life boat after ship capsizes, flash forward a couple weeks, they are sunburned, delerious and people start jumping off the boat and get eaten by sharks or die on the boat for people to hang around in the deceased persons filth. I shouldnt be alive is a big testament to stupid people everywhere. I love that show.
Posted by: D-town | March 01, 2006 at 05:04 PM
All i can say is, this film impacted me a great deal. I first saw the piece on Tim on Dateline. I was in total awe, and yet so very freaked that someone was so cocky about bears never going to harm him. He was so childlike, and, yet so tainted when it came to human beings. I just saw Grizzly Man. For some reason, i can't shake the feeling of sadness, and pain. Wishing that it wasn't real, and that Tim, and his girlfriend Aimee were still alive. To think that she loved him so much, that she died because of it. I wish Tim would of realized he could of stood for his cause, in a way, that he wouldn't of been put in such danger. All he wanted was for the bears to live without the fear of being killed. Yet, how ironic, that he got killed, and two bears got killed as well. I'm sad for all the families involved. And hope, and pray, that he is now at peace, and watching over his beloved bears form heaven....
Posted by: Wendy | April 18, 2006 at 04:21 PM
I just saw the movie Grizzley Man. I think this guy was a total IDIOT! Tim spent 13 years de-sensitizing Bears and Fox to humans. He was obviously a young man who had mental problems and victimized these animals, they had to put up with his rantings & ravings and intrusions in their lives. If he acted like that on our streets, he would be locked up in a nut-house! He was a game player, acting like a Macho Lover- Crock Hunter-Super Dude, totally full of himself. He was selfish and protected nothing.
The two things missing in the movie that would have made a real impact on the future of those Bears was letting people hear the recording of their deaths and photos of what was left when their bodies were found. The Indians have a saying, "Do things in a good way".
Maybe adopting a dog from a animal shelter whould have been a better choice.
Posted by: Sheri Cline | June 12, 2006 at 01:41 PM
is it true there is the vide0 0f him dying 0n the net?? cuz i have been trying t0 find it and cant.
Posted by: crystal | July 24, 2006 at 12:45 AM
well ,I feel bad that this had to happen but let's face its human nature free will and all that crap. Im a detective and when I go after a killer or a rapist I will always carrie a weapon and or a tachtical unit.that kind of bear is a killer and he got what he came for a free lunch.
Posted by: albert smith | August 16, 2006 at 08:26 PM