Do not disturb the wildlife
Grizzly Man
Timothy Treadwell was an American environmentalist and founder of the organisation Grizzly People. He devoted his whole life to grizzlies and spent 13 summers living with them in Katmai National Park in Alaska. While he seemed well-intentioned, his irresponsible and immature behavior was not only detrimental to the bears but to him as well and he and his girlfriend Amie Huguenard were ultimately killed and eaten by a 28-year-old bear.
Treadwell was aware of the danger he put himself in, but did not seem to truly grasp the harshness and the precise balance of nature. Through the numerous videos he shot during his expeditions, he can be seen acting in an almost childish manner, talking to the bears as if they were human beings and even getting extremely close to them. He has often been criticized for trying to be a bear and habituating the bears to the human presence.
"If I look at it from my culture, Timothy Treadwell crossed a boundary that we have lived with for 7,000 years. It's an unspoken boundary, an unknown boundary. But when we know we've crossed it, we pay the price." - Sven Haakanson, Alutiiq
At the end of his 13th summer, Treadwell and Huguenard left the park, but after an altercation with an airline agent over the validity of his ticket, Treadwell decided to go back to the park. Hughenard, who was scared of bears, reluctantly followed him. As they arrived, they realized most grizzlies that were familiar to them had started hibernating and had been replaced by wilder bears.
What is known from the death of Treadwell and Huguenard comes from the 6-minute recording made of the attack.
Suddenly the bear starts mauling Timothy. Amie turns the camera on to record the attack, but the lens cap is still on and only the audio is captured. It is raining outstide, but the storm is not enough to cover Timothy's screams. Amie asks if the bear is still out there. "Get out here! I'm getting killed out here!" yells Timothy. She opens the tent. "Play dead!" she shouts. "Play dead!"
Her screaming seems to work, the bear lets go of Timothy and leaves. She approaches him and they wonder if the grizzly is really gone. Unfortunately for them, it is not.
The bear comes back and attacks Timothy again, forcing Amie to back off. It bites and grabs his head with its mouth, causing massive lacerations and exposing the scalp. Timothy is struggling to survive and yells at Amie that playing dead does not work. "Hit the bear", he shouts as she screams to fight back. She comes at the bear and hits the top of it's head with a frying pan. "Stop! Go away!" she shouts, as her boyfriend moans in pain. The silence of the bear creates a sharp contrast with the loud anguish of the pair. The animal lets go of his head, but grabs his thigh. It is then that Timothy realizes he is going to die. The only thing he can do now is save Amie's life. "Go away! Go away! Leave me! Run!" he yells at her.
Amie hears his scream fade away, as her boyfriend is being dragged into the brush, away from her. Paralyzed with fear, she yells, as loud and high-pitched as she ever did. Hearing that sound, the bear returns to the camp...