The Grizzly Man

[sicottem]

I saw half of this documentary on the Discovery Channel today and really liked it. If anyone hasnt heard about it, it is footage that a guy filmed as he went and studied Grizzly bears. I guess he used to go every year for a few months into Alaska and actually live WITH the bears...huge animal fan who was very paranoid of EVERYTHING. He started to really hate civilization and kinda had a "Thoreau-esque" line of thinking. He kept on going back there and i guess eventually he was mauled by one of them and the film was made by editting the footage he had filmed there...I only saw half of it so i may have judged him a bit wrong.

Just wondering if anyone had seen it and what they thought about it...

http://imdb.com/title/tt0427312/

[foggy]

I've been meaning to watch it but I keep missing it. Actually it might be on Discovery on demand here, I'm going to check..

[sicottem]

the guy is crazy...i would definitly piss my pants getting inches away from a grizzly

[foggy]

Same here. Nomatter how much you think they're accepting you, ultimately they're a wild animal and completely unpredictable - as he found out, unfortunately.

[sicottem]

http://www.junglewalk.com/animal-pictures/609/Grizzly-Bear-1231.jpg

scary:eek:

[Sydneyfan]

Is that the same guy who, along with his girlfriend, ended up getting killed by grizzleys a coupl of years ago? The guy I'm thinking of was really eccentric and refused to take guns (even tranquilser ones) with him because he was convinced he could communicate with the bears. There is actual audio and video of them geting killed because it happened while they were filming.

I've heard the audio - its horrendous. Obviously the video never made it to prime time.

[foggy]

That's the guy, yes. I never even knew the audio was released, it must be horrifying.

[Sydneyfan]

Shocking. He was inside the tent with the camera turned on and she was outside. The bear come into the tent, and attacked him. Then the girlfriend starts screaming from outside. You can hear him yelling at her to get away, and she's just completely freaking out. Not really clear what happens next but apparently another bear attacked her before you could get too far.

Put me off bears for life.

[foggy]

That is just beyond comprehension really. :(

[sicottem]

Shocking. He was inside the tent with the camera turned on and she was outside. The bear come into the tent, and attacked him. Then the girlfriend starts screaming from outside. You can hear him yelling at her to get away, and she's just completely freaking out. Not really clear what happens next but apparently another bear attacked her before you could get too far.

Put me off bears for life.

Yea they talk about that in the film...he starts yelling at her to run before he dies

[sicottem]

according to a website i found about the man:

" Amie turns the camera on and asks if the bear is still out there. Tim then yells for Amie to "Get out here! I'm getting killed out here!". Amie leaves the tent (the sound of a zipper and the tent door being opened) and sees Tim on the ground struggling with his head in the bear's mouth and yells for him to "play dead!"

There is TONS of info about this on this site
http://www.yellowstone-bearman.com/Tim_Treadwell.html

[Sydneyfan]

Thanks for the link, I ll check it out.

[Sydneyfan]

from that site:

"Tim would often tell listeners about the time he calmly defused a dangerous encounter with a bear by talking softly to it. When the confrontation was over he claimed to have laid down and napped next to the sleeping bear. Likewise, in a 1994 interview when he was asked whether he was ever afraid of the bears, he responded with saying "They wouldn't hurt me".


Sadly ironic.

[sicottem]

from that site:

"Tim would often tell listeners about the time he calmly defused a dangerous encounter with a bear by talking softly to it. When the confrontation was over he claimed to have laid down and napped next to the sleeping bear. Likewise, in a 1994 interview when he was asked whether he was ever afraid of the bears, he responded with saying "They wouldn't hurt me".


Sadly ironic.

i guess in the last year there was an unusual migration and a new set of bear came in that he had never been around...that might have had something to do with it

[sicottem]

The actually had a special on the "Grizzly Man" on ABC over here in the states today. I didnt watch it because i just saw the film a few days ago, but there was another special at the same time about a family that raised a chimp as their son. It was a bit odd...

"The Davises adopted Moe from Tanzania shortly after he was born, and by all accounts, loved him like a son. They taught him to wear clothes, to takes showers and to use the toilet, according to the Los Angeles Times."
http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=1044680

[Sydneyfan]

"The Davises adopted Moe from Tanzania shortly after he was born, and by all accounts, loved him like a son. They taught him to wear clothes, to takes showers and to use the toilet, according to the Los Angeles Times."
http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=1044680


I'm not so sure raising wild animals as though they were human is a great idea. I can see why they'd want to toilet train the monkey though...:lol

I read something recently about a chimp that had been hand reared in Africa by some really distinguished animal researcher. The chimp was really intelligent, friendly, could do tricks etc. Anyhow, one day this chimp was sitting in a tree and a woman carrying a small baby in her arms walked by.

The chimp - completely unprovoked- leapt out of the tree, ripped the baby from the woman's arms and killed it. It just went psycho. There was a documentary made about the case and what questions it raises about our understanding of animals. I'll see if I can find any links to it.

[Sydneyfan]

Can't find the links to the doco but I found this....


Chimpanzees in western Uganda are increasingly raiding illegal brewing operations in forested river valleys and getting drunk on the country beer. Once intoxicated, they become hostile and attack and at times kill human children, parks officials say.

One notorious chimp nicknamed Saddam is blamed for killing at least three babies and maiming several others in Ruteete sub-county which borders the Kibale National Park.

Dr Michael Gavin, who carried out the study, was reported by the magazine as saying that the technique used by the chimps to kill or maim the children mirrored the way they tear apart other prey, suggesting that they snatched the children to eat them. "In most cases they bite off the limbs first before disembowelling them, just as they would the red colombus monkey, which is among their favourite prey," he said.

A January 14 report on the chimp attacks, prepared by the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), says that local beer is usually brewed illegally along river valleys, which are also the habitat of chimps. "When chimps come across the local brew, they drink it, become drunk and in that state any encounter with people means an attack," says the report, compiled for the UWA executive director, a copy of which was obtained by The EastAfrican.

In the Kibale Park, situated in an area known for brewing banana beer, authorities say there have been 12 chimp attacks since 1996, and three of the victims died. The park recorded at least six other attacks between 1992 and 1995.

The most recent chimp attacks resulted in the death of a three-month-old child while two others were maimed. The dead child, was snatched by a chimp from under a tree in a vegetable garden where his mother and grandmother were digging. The child was rescued by people in the neighbourhood, but the chimp had torn off his face and he died in hospital.

[sicottem]

The chimp - completely unprovoked- leapt out of the tree, ripped the baby from the woman's arms and killed it. It just went psycho. There was a documentary made about the case and what questions it raises about our understanding of animals. I'll see if I can find any links to it.
I used to think that chimps were really cute and just lovable...i guess i was completely wrong.

[sicottem]

The most recent chimp attacks resulted in the death of a three-month-old child while two others were maimed. The dead child, was snatched by a chimp from under a tree in a vegetable garden where his mother and grandmother were digging. The child was rescued by people in the neighbourhood, but the chimp had torn off his face and he died in hospital.
These are really weird situations too because it definitly is a terrible thing that was done. And in one way, you kind of think to yourself that the chimp should just all be gotten rid of so that this kind of thing doesnt happen. But then you think that they are just animals are they were acting that way either because it is in their nature or they were threatened in some way. But even then...i dont know how threatening a baby could be to a chimp...

[Sydneyfan]

These are really weird situations too because it definitly is a terrible thing that was done. And in one way, you kind of think to yourself that the chimp should just all be gotten rid of so that this kind of thing doesnt happen. But then you think that they are just animals are they were acting that way either because it is in their nature or they were threatened in some way. But even then...i dont know how threatening a baby could be to a chimp...


Chimps should definately stay off the booze by the sounds of it.

[sicottem]

probably not the best mix