Failure™ Magazine

Bear With Me

The author of “The Grizzly Maze” on Timothy Treadwell.

Written by Jason Zasky   Filed under Arts & Entertainment, Life

Was Treadwell’s behavior self-serving?
He always said, “I love the bears. I would never harm them.” But a biologist would say, “Look, someone is going to get killed. You are going to get killed. And then the bear is going to get killed. Or this same bear that you habituated is going to run up to somebody else who doesn’t know the bear and they are going to get hurt or they are going to kill the bear because they are afraid.” He always deflected those questions. He told little stories to himself to make what he was doing okay. But we all do that: “It’s okay if I take this handful of pens from work; it’s not stealing.” It’s the same thing. It’s a disconnect and we all know it’s wrong. But those blinders were a critical part of his character. That’s what drove him to do things he shouldn’t have done.

Is it true that he didn’t observe Grizzly People’s own rules for bear safety?
Absolutely. But I think Treadwell would have said the following if he could have articulated it. In order for there to be conservation people have to care. In order for them to care they have to get something out of it, including those dramatic images of bears fishing at waterfalls. And they have to be able to go to places like that and see for themselves, at least in some limited way. Otherwise nobody cares. So the bears [on the Katmai coast] are the ambassadors for their species. Many people leave the Katmai coast believing in a much kinder, gentler bear than when they arrived.

What did Treadwell and Grizzly People do for bears? What are some of the positive things he accomplished?
I don’t think you can discount his legacy of outreach. In the winter he traveled and lectured elementary school students. He made kids care and aware of the fact there are bears out there and they aren’t necessarily the bear you see in any number of bad movies. That bear is a myth that just keeps getting perpetuated. Look at The Edge. That’s Alec Baldwin and Anthony Hopkins and Bart the bear. It’s Jaws on land. And The Edge is a 1996 film, in a relatively enlightened age. But that’s not what bears are like at all. Every time that Bart the bear is roaring and standing up on his hind legs he is begging for a jelly donut that his trainer is holding just off camera.

In recent years Peter Benchley has expressed regret about writing “Jaws” because of the effect it had on the Great White shark’s public image. Has Treadwell damaged the public image of bears? What have been some of the negative consequences of his actions?
The most important one is that two bears got killed over him, including a large dominant male, a 28-year-old bear. It is posited in Grizzly Man that this was a bear that Treadwell may not have known. It was clearly a bear that he knew. But the story is more palatable if it was a stranger, instead of a bear that he co-existed with for years.

The other was a cute, younger bear that was one of his “pets.” He called the bear Baby Letterman and he was very identifiable because he had pretty, ivory colored claws and a certain marking on his breast. Baby Letterman wasn’t scared of people at all. He was like a dog. He’d sit next to people. But [during the rescue operation] it was pouring rain, it was getting dark, and the rescuers were carrying down pieces of bodies. Baby Letterman kept approaching and approaching and approaching and wouldn’t go away. Every time they shooed him off he came back and came closer. I don’t blame them for pulling the trigger. Treadwell put them in that position.

Another negative consequence is Bearanoia. Every time someone is killed by a bear the number of bears killed in defense of life and property goes up. There’s also the negative impression that this is the kind of thing that happens when you get close to a bear. There are so many misconceptions.

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