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Jewish World Review August 29, 2005 / 24 Av, 5765 Grizzly makes grisly By Debra J. Saunders
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
The goal of Grizzly People, its website explains, is "to
elevate the grizzly to the kindred state of the whale and dolphin through
supportive education in the hopes that humans will learn to live in peace
with the bear, wilderness and fellow humans."
But, as Werner Herzog's latest documentary, "Grizzly Man,"
demonstrates, the best way for man to live at peace with the bear is to not
romanticize grizzlies and to give them a wide berth.
Alas, Grizzly People founder Timothy Treadwell had Disney-fied
the object of his affection. So, as Herzog chronicles, the 46-year-old bear
activist and his 37-year-old girlfriend were mauled and eaten by an Alaskan
grizzly in October 2003.
But first, Treadwell produced some 100 hours of tape starring —
ta da — him, talking about bears, or talking to bears, or talking about how
much he loved bears and how he knew to be dominant around bears. He gave
them names like Tabitha, Melissa and Mickey, and he frequently told them, "I
love you." He recorded countless close-ups of himself discussing the dangers
of living among the grizzlies.
While some think Treadwell had a death wish, he claimed that he
would not be hurt, because he had a special understanding of grizzlies and
he respected them. His fate illustrates the dark side of the modern
romanticization of the wild.
Fact is, Treadwell didn't understand grizzlies and he didn't
respect them. As an Alaskan pilot told Herzog, Treadwell seemed to view
grizzlies as if they were "people wearing bear costumes."
If Treadwell had respected bears, he would have kept a safe
distance — try 100 yards — from them. He also would have treated them like
predators, not buddies. Instead, he recorded himself patting bears, wading
into water with a fishing grizzly and talking to the bears. "Go back," he
commanded, as if they understood him.
Treadwell liked to style himself as an animal lover, but I think
he was more smitten with himself than with the bears. Treadwell also
exhibited some of the misanthropy endemic among the more radical
animal-rights activists and eco-activists. Just as a prominent PETA (People
for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) leader announced it was inevitable
that an activist would blow up research laboratories and fast-food outlets,
Treadwell ranted against the "losers" who work for the National Park
Service. Why? Because they had rules designed to protect wildlife and
people.
Herzog reveals that Treadwell only taped his girlfriend, Amie
Huguenard, on camera three times, and her face is clearly visible in only
one shot. In part, she was invisible because Treadwell wanted to promote a
fiction — that he lived alone in communion with the grizzlies. But it also
seems that Treadwell didn't want any other voices competing with his
narcissistic monologue.
Her lack of voice haunts "Grizzly Man." Treadwell talks
endlessly about how sensitive he is, yet she remains voiceless, faceless —
and her lack of presence makes you wonder if this self-styled animal lover
had an ounce of humanity in him.
Then there is Treadwell's wrongheaded conceit that he was there
to "protect" the grizzlies. They didn't need his protection. It was this
delusion that brought death upon the grizzlies. Rangers shot the bear that
ate the couple in the first known bear killings of humans at Alaska's Katmai
National Park, as well as another bear that seemed to be stalking them.
How different those real bears were from the Disney version in
Treadwell's mind. It's odd. Treadwell did have a visible bond with many of
the park's foxes. But the bears he videotaped seemed particularly
uninterested in bonding with a blonde. They were interested, however, in
meals to fatten up for hibernation.
As Chuck Bartlebaugh, executive director of the Center for
Wildlife Information, told National Geographic News, "Two years ago, we
counted 200 people standing within five feet of grizzly bears in
Yellowstone. Those bears are now dead."
Stupidity kills. Treadwell was so filled with his own conceit he
didn't care who got hurt. He told friends that if he died with the bears, he
would have died as he wanted to.
He'd probably shrug about the two dead bears and say he would
not have wanted them to die. To him, only one thing mattered — the words
that belong on the tombstone of every dangerous zealot: He meant well.
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Comment JWR contributor Debra J. Saunders's column by clicking here. © 2005, Creators Syndicate |
Arnold Ahlert | |||||||||||
