The Grizzly Man {part two}
I read this story and i thought to share it with you!
Timothy has made my life difficult, both while he was alive and after he died. Before he was killed, he tried zealously to undermine my credibility. Some years ago I had offended him by writing in my book Grizzly Heart that he did not carry pepper spray nor use electric fencing around his tent to protect himself there. I did not say this was wrong, only that I did things differently. Of course in hindsight I was too easy on him. There seemed little doubt to me that camping on major bear tails in thick bush was putting him at the mercy of a possible transient bear that he would not have built any kind of trusting relationship with. He had told me that he occasionally encountered bears that scared him so I had asked the question – “why would you not take the precautions that we both knew would work?” He angrily told me that he was essentially a trespasser in their territory and therefore he did not want to hurt them in any way. In answer to this I confronted him with the possibility that his death could undo everything that he and others were trying to change in people’s attitude towards bears. Only a few months after our unpleasant exchange I found myself experiencing everything I had dreaded.
I got on a plane to Alaska a few hours after I heard that Timothy and his girlfriend Amie Huguenard were dead. I wanted to make sure that I personally understood as much as I could about what had happened. In the past I had found that for political reasons, in situations such as this, the whole story was often not reviled. As it turned out, however, there was not much to guess about. As Timothy was scrambling out of his tent to deal with a bear close to his tent, his camera had accidentally been turned on, leaving an exact and very gruesome audio record of their deaths. Before it happened both of them had talked and wrote about a bear who had given them every indication that he might be dangerous. As it had turned out either an electric fence and/or pepper spray would have saved them.
hang on for the continuation of the story.Dont miss it.
Timothy has made my life difficult, both while he was alive and after he died. Before he was killed, he tried zealously to undermine my credibility. Some years ago I had offended him by writing in my book Grizzly Heart that he did not carry pepper spray nor use electric fencing around his tent to protect himself there. I did not say this was wrong, only that I did things differently. Of course in hindsight I was too easy on him. There seemed little doubt to me that camping on major bear tails in thick bush was putting him at the mercy of a possible transient bear that he would not have built any kind of trusting relationship with. He had told me that he occasionally encountered bears that scared him so I had asked the question – “why would you not take the precautions that we both knew would work?” He angrily told me that he was essentially a trespasser in their territory and therefore he did not want to hurt them in any way. In answer to this I confronted him with the possibility that his death could undo everything that he and others were trying to change in people’s attitude towards bears. Only a few months after our unpleasant exchange I found myself experiencing everything I had dreaded.
I got on a plane to Alaska a few hours after I heard that Timothy and his girlfriend Amie Huguenard were dead. I wanted to make sure that I personally understood as much as I could about what had happened. In the past I had found that for political reasons, in situations such as this, the whole story was often not reviled. As it turned out, however, there was not much to guess about. As Timothy was scrambling out of his tent to deal with a bear close to his tent, his camera had accidentally been turned on, leaving an exact and very gruesome audio record of their deaths. Before it happened both of them had talked and wrote about a bear who had given them every indication that he might be dangerous. As it had turned out either an electric fence and/or pepper spray would have saved them.
hang on for the continuation of the story.Dont miss it.
posted by bridget at 6:23 AM
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