Timothy Treadwell: Bear “Expert” Killed By Bears
Sometimes people do things so incredibly inane and stupid that it makes me wonder how our species has survived on this planet for so long. I remember seeing Treadwell’s “Grizzly Diaries” on TV and thinking to myself that he was eventually going to get taken by one of the bears he got so close to. And that’s exactly what happened.
We now have two dead human beings and two dead bears. And for what? Nothing except the self-promoting vanity and self-deceiving delusions of a man who apparently had nothing better to do with his life than harass wild animals that really wanted nothing more than to be left alone.There’s more to this story, unfortunately, though. Treadwell’s death is indicative of two dangerous trends. The first is the tendency of stars of nature documentaries and television programs to try to get as close as physically possible to dangerous animals and the second is the anthropomorphization of wild animals by animal rights advocates.
Reckless Adventurers
Steve Irwin (the Crocodile Hunter) was probably the first TV show host to get recklessly close to dangerous animals and there’s been a succession of other animal TV shows that have followed in his footsteps (Jeff Corwin, O’Shea, etc.). While the audience might find what these guys do entertaining, they set a very dangerous example for their viewers (especially the young and impressionable ones).
Treadwell: Reckless, dangerous and now dead.
Timothy Treadwell was certainly one of the more foolhardy of this breed of nature documentary star but I doubt he will be the last. Even some scientist types have started imitating these guys by trying to get close to dangerous animals. Remember the idiot that had his calf ripped off by a bull shark? He was playing the same game as Treadwell, Irwin and the rest – using animals as props to attain media attention and funding. His gambit with the bull sharks nearly cost him his life, he almost bled to death after his calf was bitten off by the shark.
If you watch Treadwell’s shows you will notice him saying “I love you” and making other inane remarks as he gets close to wild bears. It’s simultaneously nauseating and mind-blowing to see a human being with so little regard for his own life and so little respect for the animals he claims to love. It’s as though he’s lost in some kind of fantasy world where he’s “special” and “different” from the rest of us and thus able to walk among wild animals without worry of being attacked.
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The Collective
It must be nice to be so sure of everything from behind your desk, worrying only about the tragedy of a paper cut.
Yes, it is. Quite nice actually. :-)
It’s too bad the bears had to be killed because of what was probably just their natural response to the presence of easy prey in their hunting grounds, but to condemn Treadwell’s actions as stupid or insane just because they caused his own death is pretty high and mighty on your part. At least he was doing something interesting with his life. Despite the two bear casualties, he actually might have done something positive about habitat preservation, which is the only thing that will save the big predators. As passionate as he was about bears, I bet he would have thought it was worth it.
Interesting viewpoints, both those expressed in the posting and that of the respondents. Still, there are a few things that need to be explored.
I couldn’t help but to notice that both respondents (as of this writing) seem supportive of Treadwell’s behavior. Perhaps they need to take a more objective look.
Treadwell decided that Katmai was a good place to do his “research”, despite it’s being a preserve and well (for Alaska) monitored for poaching and other incursions. What then, was Treadwell “protecting” these bears from? There are many more wild lands in AK with large bear populations, but many of them are far less hospitable for even summer camping. With this already being a preserve, what exactly was he doing for “habitat preservation?”
Second, having seen at least one of his TV shorts (during which I labeled him “nuts†for his behavior and absolute lack of respect for these creatures), I fail to see any positive contribution to the knowledge about bears or their natural history. Doing something interesting with one’s life does not constitute doing anything useful for mankind or for the subjects of his fascination. You could call standing in the middle of a busy freeway a traffic study, but it would just be another suicidal means for getting one’s jollies, something I fear that Mr. Treadwell duplicated with his cavalier treatment of half ton carnivores. If he considers ending his existence as a steaming pile of bear dung as being somehow uplifting, then it is fully apparent that his earlier fascination – illicit drugs – certainly had their effect on damaging brain tissue.
Extremism, even in preserving the natural world, generally serves no real purpose, except to divert resources from undertakings that will have a long term positive effect on the land. Having to protect those too foolish to do so themselves, as with the hippyesque behavior of Mr. Treadwell, or to counteract the more malicious acts of militants like Earth First, simply drains resources that could be used for meaningful research and action.
I’m sorry, I can only feel sorry for the two bears that were destroyed for the crime of being bears, something with which Mr. Treadwell seems to have been blissfully unaware.
I don’t know much about Treadwell (have only read a bit about his bear adventures) so you could be right about him being a wacko. Regardless, conservation is primarily a question of public opinion, and the people who work in the wild with large predators, whatever their secondary (perhaps selfish) motivations, are mainly doing what they do because they believe it is an effective way to publicize and preserve the last, few remaining unspioled places. Teadwell’s exuberant risk-taking with wild bears is different from traffic dodging and more engaging for most folks mainly because it taps into a basic need to connect with what is wild and natural, even if it is also very dangerous. Is what Treadwell did “extreme”? For him it certainly had terminal consequences, but it is not even remotely comarable to the extremism of Earth First.
I think Henry Beston said it better than anyone ever has: “They [animals] are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations . . .â€
Having lived in Alaska for sixteen years, having studied both wildlife and fisheries biology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and having had an encounter or two of my own with large brown bears, I can only say that Mr. Treadwell either had a death wish or was dillusional. What strikes me, however, is the disregard he showed for the life and safety of his girlfriend.
To respect animals fully is to treat them fairly. Leave them alone. Observe from a distance. New Age philosophy means nothing to wild animals. Just leave them be. Everyone will be better off.
Well, even with young Mr. Treadwell’s transition to the products of a bear’s digestive tract, his legacy lives on.
A few days ago, some fool at Chicago’s Brookfield Zoo, left the path, crossed a wooden barrier and climbed a fence to get an up close and personal experience with a timber wolf. Unfortunately, the wolf had never seen a Disney movie and reacted as wild things generally do when someone surprises them with a well intentioned pat on the back. This particular canid, despite being quite advanced in age, was able to grab tightly onto the lady’s arm. His reticence about returning the limb in the condition in which he found it resulted in the loss of his life, as a zoo police officer had to dispatch him with a single revolver shot. Tranquilizers would not have worked in this case, as the time span before they take effect would have exposed the interloper to substantial additional punishment. The last timber wolf at the Brookfield zoo was sacrificed to another loony that too late found that real wolves have no interest in terpsichorian activities.
Once again, this same disrespect for creatures of the wild, disguised as love, had a tragic ending. Once again, a human had fooled herself into believing that a large carnivore would behave like a spaniel puppy because she approached it with “love.” And, as is so often the case, the wild creature got the proverbial short end of the stick.
How can someone purport to “love” a wild creature while at the same time refuse to recognize it as such? As the biologist in an earlier response noted, simply treating the objects of one’s affection with respect would have averted this tragedy, Treadwells, ad nauseum. Having the same educational background as he/she noted, I am painfully aware of these loss of these magnificent creatures and the steps that must be taken to preserve them.
Treating them as you would a house pet is definitely not the way to do that.
In response to Treadwell being a drug abuser. I live near an Indian reservation that has serious problems with alcohol and drug abuse. I’ve worked with quite a few of these old boys who have had serious abuse problems and it makes me wonder if this abuse destroys their common sense. I probably shouldn’t feel this way but at times I wonder if they would have brains enough to poor piss out of a boot it the instructions were on the heal. How long do you ’spose it will be before Steve Irwin, Jeff Corwin and company will end up getting theirs?
I totally agree with your observations about the incredible stupidity of Treadwell (and about Ritter). Nuff said.
Improving the gene pool by removing yourself from it, Darwin in action.