Fatal bear attack in Katmai National Park

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Bill Hilton - 09 Oct 2003 18:25 GMT

I've photographed Alaskan brown bears in Katmai the past couple of years at
Brooks Camp, which is a wonderful place to get close to them.

Several times I've come across bears on the trails at short range (even though
I always make noise to warn them) and a couple of times they've approached to
within a few yards while I photographed. Last fall one bear approached to
within 10 yards and I got my best shot, then kept coming to within 5 yards (the
point where my lens would no longer close focus) before veering off. I was
standing in knee deep rushing water with heavy gear and had limited options so
just rode it out.

When approached by a bear at Katmai I always kept two thoughts in mind ...
first, the good news, "no one has ever been killed by a bear at Katmai" even
though thousands of people visit Brooks Camp or fish the streams and bear
encounters are commonplace. The bad news was "remember Michio Hoshino", the
great Japanese nature photographer who knew far more about bears than I do.
Michio was killed and partially eaten in Kamchatka (Russia) a couple years ago
by the local version of brown bears.

A couple days ago I heard on the news while traveling that bears had killed two
people in Katmai. My first thought was for my friend Howard who works at
Brooks as a Ranger and stays off-season for a month to assist the bear
biologists in their field work, but instead it was a well-known character who
camped with the bears in the wilderness for the past 13 years, writing a very
interesting book about his experiences ... Timothy Treadwell and his
girlfriend/companion.

Treadwell took a lot of chances and has done things like pet the bears or sleep
curled up beside them. He has a lot of experience and was quoted as saying the
bears were harmless and "party animals" at heart. But it only takes one bear
to turn your world up-side down and he met that bear and lost. I saw a TV
special on Tim recently where a bear was stalking his campsite with menace and
he finally said "I've got to charge the bear and show him who's boss", which he
did, running at the bear screaming and waving his arms. The bear fled but I
wondered at the time how many times he could get away with that.

Next time I'm in Katmai, probably next September, I'll be a lot more cautious.

Here are links to news stories about the attacks or go to Google news and enter
"Katmai bear attack Treadwell" for reams of info.

breaking news, a video recorder recovered from the site has the sounds of the
actual mauling (at least the first 6 minutes) ...
http://www.news-miner.com/Stories/0,1413,113~7244~1686848,00.html

Be careful out there.

Bill

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RSD99 - 09 Oct 2003 19:30 GMT

Yes ...

The story "made the evening news" on a couple of TV networks last night, complete with
some video of the remains of Treadwell's camp.

The LA Times also had multiarticle coverage ... for a story of this nature the coverage
was quite extensive.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-bear9oct09002420,1,7782493.story

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-bear8oct08,1,4886374.story?coll=la-headl
ines-calif
ornia

Treadwell just may have become a little too complacent ... bears are - after all - wild
animals ... and used to being the king of the hill!

> I've photographed Alaskan brown bears in Katmai the past couple of years at
> Brooks Camp, which is a wonderful place to get close to them.
[quoted text clipped - 44 lines]
>
> Bill

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Gordon Niessen - 10 Oct 2003 18:54 GMT

As Sigfield and Roy also found out with captive Tigers. Respect the
fact theat they are wild animals and very powerful. It is unfortunate
that the start of the attack was not captured, so others could learn
from their mistake about what can start an attack.

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Gordon Niessen

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ken@usenet.ca - 10 Oct 2003 21:21 GMT

>As Sigfield and Roy also found out with captive Tigers. Respect the
>fact theat they are wild animals and very powerful. It is unfortunate
>that the start of the attack was not captured, so others could learn
>from their mistake about what can start an attack.

I think there mistake was in becoming too complacent.

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Gregory W. Blank - 11 Oct 2003 02:44 GMT

> >As Sigfield and Roy also found out with captive Tigers. Respect the
> >fact theat they are wild animals and very powerful. It is unfortunate
> >that the start of the attack was not captured, so others could learn
> >from their mistake about what can start an attack.
> I think there mistake was in becoming too complacent.

Or maybe that tuna fish sandwich Roy eat before going on stage.

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Andy Harmer - 13 Oct 2003 22:56 GMT

> > >As Sigfield and Roy also found out with captive Tigers. Respect the
> > >fact theat they are wild animals and very powerful. It is unfortunate
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>
> Or maybe that tuna fish sandwich Roy eat before going on stage.

Is it right that one of the tigers drove him to hospital?

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ken@usenet.ca - 14 Oct 2003 02:28 GMT

>> > >As Sigfield and Roy also found out with captive Tigers. Respect the
>> > >fact theat they are wild animals and very powerful. It is unfortunate
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>
>Is it right that one of the tigers drove him to hospital?

Yes its right , it was the honorable thing to do after all!!

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Bill Hilton - 11 Oct 2003 04:05 GMT

An interesting article from 2001 on Treadwell, which seems prescient now.

http://www.alaska.com/akcom/western/visit_travel/story/767020p-819757c.html

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RSD99 - 11 Oct 2003 16:22 GMT

Interesting ... and prophetic ...

> An interesting article from 2001 on Treadwell, which seems prescient now.
>
> http://www.alaska.com/akcom/western/visit_travel/story/767020p-819757c.html

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Scott Peterson - 12 Oct 2003 00:25 GMT

>Treadwell took a lot of chances and has done things like pet the bears or sleep
>curled up beside them. I saw a TV
>special on Tim recently where a bear was stalking his campsite with menace and
>he finally said "I've got to charge the bear and show him who's boss", which he
>did, running at the bear screaming and waving his arms.

Hard to be too sympathetic about him. Apparently the park rangers had
repeatedly pleaded with him to keep his distance from the bears and
he'd refused. He and his girlfriend was in an area where firearms
were not allowed and there was no else one around to help when he got
in trouble.

>He has a lot of experience and was quoted as saying the
>bears were harmless and "party animals" at heart. But it only takes one bear
>to turn your world up-side down and he met that bear and lost.

To me treating carnivorous wild animals that are bigger than you are
as harmless is like climbers arguing they can outwit gravity. Running
into a bad situation is a not a matter of if, but when. Just ask Roy
Horn.

Treadwell's "experience" was self-taught, which isn't always bad. But
apparently professionals wanted nothing to do with him because of the
chances they saw him taking, and most of them disagreed with a lot of
his opinions on their behavior.

>The bear fled but I wondered at the time how many times he could get away with that.

They had to shoot one bear that was eating the body and another that
got too aggressive while they were removing it.

Scott Peterson

If vegetarians eat vegetables, what
do humanitarians eat?

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