Lions, Tigers, and Bears....

....OH MY!! No really, oh my!!

Last night we had dinner with our friends' Matt and Emily. After seeing their honeymoon pictures (newlyweds) we watched TV for a while. Randy and I became enthralled with a show on Discovery Channel called "Grizzly Man." It's the documentary of Timothy Treadwell and how he went to Alaska for 12 years to help preserve wild grizzly bears. The guy was kind of kooky...touching them, talking to foxes, all of that. Turns out, the day of his last video, October 5th 2003, he and his girlfriend Amie were mauled to death by a grizzly. While they didn't show the footage (the camera lens was still on the camera) Timothy's friends were able to listen to the audio footage of his death.

They didn't play it for us, but stop for a minute and think about listening to that. What kind of sound do you think that is? One of the gentlemen that heard the tape said you can't always tell what was the bear and what was the people, although there were certain things that did stick out like the Amie screaming at the top of her lungs, and Timothy yelling for her to get away, then hit the bear with a frying pan to try and save themselves. The two bodies were found, grotesquely mutilated and the bear sitting on top of them chewing on the bodies.

Now, most people that know me know that I love horror movies and stuff. And morbid curiosity had us try a quick Internet search for the recording until we found out that it was only released to one person-his best friend, and that she will not ever publish it out of respect. That got me thinking, why on God's earth would I want to hear someone get mauled by a bear, and have it be reality, not Hollywood? Can you imagine how much the sound would haunt your thoughts? Just the thought of it this morning gives me the willies!

Here's to you Timothy and Amie...may you rest in peace, and know that what you did is brave, and that you helped to save bears during your time on earth.

(Another sad comment about it...the year after this happened, poachers killed at least 6-8 grizzly bears in the areas where Timothy had camped throughout the Grizzly Maze area. While Timothy was there, almost none had been poached or tortured).