On Grizzly Man

Timothy Treadwell is in one word an individual. To go out into the wild, to separate yourself from the civilized population and immerse yourself in the world of the animals is, to me, simply amazing. I watched the documentary with a mixture of fear, wonderment and skepticism. I mean, here was a man who got as close to the bears (even more so) then any human would dare to.He was so passionate to this ideal that he was the only defender of the bears and he couldn''t leave them. One ecologist said from reading his letters 'he connected so deeply, he seemed no longer human'. He even voiced how 'he wanted to become a bear'.

Treadwell, had a purpose and though he pursued it in a unique way, he had his heart in the right place. Hertzog, who produced the documentary certainly helped the viewers to understand Timothy better. What with the various interviews of Treadwell's family and close acquaintances a picture of who this man was really came into focus. He had within him a wild streak, a deep and yet childish nature towards the grizzlies. He named them, he petted them, he showed his affection with his continuous 'i love you's and conversed with them as if they were children. Perhaps as one interviewee said, "he'd lost sight of what was really going on". There isn't anything wrong with wanting to connect with animals, to defend them; but there is a limit to it. As the biologist Van Daele puts it "we can never get into their world because they're different from us"

I'm especially appreciative of Hertzog taking the time to look at the different perspectives of Treadwell's work. Dr. Haakanson, curator of Autiqq Museum voices his displeasure at Treadwell's attempt to 'connect' with the grizzlies. In his culture, it was a form of disrespect "when i was growing up, we kept to ourselves and the bears kept to themselves". He felt it was wrong "you can't habituate bears to humans, then they'll think all humans are safe". His point is valid, though if you put it in reverse, there is the argument that having animals penned up in zoos or as pets to 'habituate' humans to them is equally wrong; we would all think snakes are harmless creatures so long as their fed, right?

I don't necessarily agree nor disagree with Treadwell's aim to protect: it kept him from having a life thrown away by drink and helped him to explore who he was, but maybe he did get a little carried away. Maybe he did trust the grizzlies, the most dangerous species on earth to the point that it led to his death. But then maybe, just maybe he was getting at something that we can't yet see or at least choose to ignore.