Treadwell is dead

[Scott_J]

THE BODIES OF Timothy Treadwell, 46, and Amie Huguenard, 37, both of Malibu, Calif., were found Monday at their campsite when a pilot arrived who was supposed to take them to Kodiak, state troopers said Tuesday.

Treadwell, co-author of “Among Grizzlies: Living With Wild Bears in Alaska,” spent more than a dozen summers living alone with and videotaping Katmai bears. Information on Huguenard was not immediately available.

The Andrew Airways pilot contacted troopers in Kodiak and the National Park Service after he saw a brown bear, possibly on top of a body, at the camp near Kaflia Bay.

Park rangers encountered a large, aggressive male brown bear within minutes of arriving. Ranger Joel Ellis said two officers stood by with shotguns as he fired 11 times with a semi-automatic handgun before the animal fell, 12 feet away.

“That was cutting it thin,” said Ellis, the lead investigator. “I didn’t take the time to count how many times it was hit.”

The victims’ remains and camping equipment were flown Monday to Kodiak. Ellis said investigators hope to glean some information from video and still cameras.

As the plane was being loaded, another aggressive bear approached and was killed by rangers and troopers. The bear was younger, possibly a 3-year-old, according to Bruce Bartley of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

The victims’ bodies were flown to the state medical examiner’s office for autopsy.

Dean Andrew, owner of Andrew Airways, said the pilot was too upset to comment. The company had been flying Treadwell to Katmai for 13 years and Huguenard for the last couple of years. Andrew said Treadwell was an experienced outdoorsman.

CONFIDENCE AROUND BEARS

Treadwell was known for his confidence around bears. He often touched them, and gave them names. Once he was filmed crawling along the ground singing as he approached a sow and two cubs.

Over the years, Park Service officials, biologists and others expressed concern about his safety and the message he was sending. “At best he’s misguided,” Deb Liggett, superintendent at Katmai, told the Anchorage Daily News in 2001. “At worst he’s dangerous. If Timothy models unsafe behavior, that ultimately puts bears and other visitors at risk.”

That same year Treadwell was a guest on the “Late Show with David Letterman,” describing Alaska brown bears as mostly harmless “party animals.”

In his book, Treadwell said he decided to devote himself to saving grizzlies after a drug overdose, followed by several close calls with brown bears in early trips to Alaska. He said those experiences inspired him to give up drugs, study bears and establish a nonprofit bear-appreciation group, called Grizzly People.

Grizzly and brown bears are the same species, but “brown” is used to describe bears in coastal areas and “grizzly” for bears in the interior.

The deaths were the first known bear killings in the 4.7-million-acre park on the Alaska Peninsula.

© 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed

 

You just can't beat a 12 ga. back up gun. All you pistol packers save the last bullet for you.

[AmberBuxom]

bears 2. humans 2. time for sudden death overtime?

[Dru]

see HERE catbirdteat posted same news story hours ago

[allthumbs]

I find it most interesting that the bear was shot 11 times with a semi-automatic handgun (no doubt a .45) until it died. Why stand backup with .12 gauge shotguns? Guess when the shit hits the fan, my favorite .45 ain't such a bad utensil afterall.

 

My thoughts on Treadwell...well, ya play with fire.....

 

Check out this link for more on Treadwell and his death wish.

 

RIP

[vegetablebelay]

I was guessing it was maybe a hi-cap 9mm, or a 40 - law enforcement-type gun.

[allthumbs]

veg - I believe the cops in AK use .45

it'd be a bitch to off that bear with a 9...would have to hit the brain stem

[cracked]

Dem bears seem to be pretty damn tough. Sounds like an anti-tank missle would be most effective. Or something like this:

[vegetablebelay]

trask said:

 

it'd be a bitch to off that bear with a 9...would have to hit the brain stem

 

I figured as much, but it'd be neat to try if you had a two-shotgun backup.

[murraysovereign]

This Treadwell guy sounds a bit like an American version of Troy Hurtubise. If you want to see a person with an odd bear obsession - rent this video. Last I heard, Troy was working on something like the "Mark 7" or "Mark 8" version of this thing, and trying to find a suitable bear to test it against. At the same time , he was suing the National Film Board because the film makes him look like an idiot. I suspect the NFB's defense will sound something like "what the Lord giveth, the camera taketh not away."

[AmberBuxom]

from salon.com

 

Oct. 8, 2003 | ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- The graphic sounds of a fatal bear attack were recorded, Alaska state troopers discovered Wednesday while reviewing a tape recovered near the bodies of a wildlife author and his girlfriend.

 

Trooper Chris Hill said Timothy Treadwell may have been wearing a wireless microphone likely activated when he was attacked by the brown bear at Katmai National Park and Preserve. The videotape has audio only; the screen remains blank for the three-minute recording.

 

 

``They're both screaming. She's telling him to play dead, then it changes to fighting back. He asks her to hit the bear,'' Hill said. ``There's so much noise going on. I don't know what's him and what might be an animal.''

 

The bodies of Treadwell, 46, and Amie Huguenard, 37, both of Malibu, Calif., were found near Kaflia Bay on Monday after an air taxi pilot arrived to pick them up. The pilot contacted the National Park Service and state troopers to report a brown bear was apparently sitting on top of human remains at the campsite.

 

After rangers arrived one of them shot and killed a large brown bear when the animal charged through the dense brush. Rangers and troopers later killed a smaller bear apparently stalking them.

 

An autopsy on the human remains confirmed Wednesday the couple were killed by bears.

 

Troopers recovered video and still photography equipment as well as three hours of video footage from the site, across Shelikof Strait from Kodiak Island.

 

Much of the footage is close-up shots of bears _ for which Treadwell was well-known.

 

Some scenes show bears no more than a few feet from Treadwell, co-author of ``Among Grizzlies: Living With Wild Bears in Alaska.'' Others show a more timid Huguenard leaning away as bears come close to her on the bank of a river.