Update,Treadwell AK Bear attack review

[gunsmith]

Van Daele said some open snack food was found untouched inside the couple's tent,

http://www.adn.com/front/story/4530729p-4506799c.html
Snipped:
Panel wraps bear attack review
TREADWELL: Board recommends a review of camping, other policies.


By RACHEL D'ORO
The Associated Press

(Published: December 18, 2003)

A panel that examined the circumstances of the deadly October brown bear attack in Katmai National Park and Preserve is recommending a review of the park's camping and bear management policies, federal officials said Wednesday.

The Technical Board of Investigation has wrapped up its inquiry in the deaths of Malibu, Calif., bear activists Timothy Treadwell and Amie Huguenard and plans to submit its final report to National Park Service officials within a week.

The four-page report also sums up likely contributing factors in the deaths of Treadwell, 46, a wildlife author who spent the past 13 summers tracking brown bears at the Alaska Peninsula park, and Huguenard, 37, who joined him in recent years. Treadwell was known and sometimes criticized for getting too chummy with the coastal grizzlies without any kind of protection, such as bear spray.

The partially eaten bodies of the couple were found in heavy bear-feeding grounds at the shore of Kaflia Lake on Oct. 6 when a pilot arrived to pick them up and saw a large brown bear standing over human remains. Responding rangers later shot and killed a thousand-pound bear when it charged at them through dense thickets of alder. State troopers and rangers also killed a smaller bear apparently stalking them

 

[rayra]

Treadwell gets my vote for the Darwin Awards.
I had seen one of his earlier 'nature' films, and what he was regularly doing was INSANE.

 

[Weimadog]

A one thousand pound bear...

I remember this guy. He was the researcher who played kissy kissy with a one thousand pound bear.

How about a couple rules we can all follow:

1. Stay away from bears of any size.

2. If you can't stay away from them, have some means of defense, like pepper spray, or a gun.

How's that for a bear management policy?

Weimadog

 

[uglymofo]

I vote we change the name of the Darwin Award, so I can remember the name of this jerk. Two bears died because of him. At least he didn't die in vain. His story made my stomach hurt with laughter ; his girlfriend should get an award too, for goin' with him. Good riddance to bad rubbish. The bears are even on this one.

 

[ceetee]

How do we set up a poll? Who wants to start calling them "The Treadwell Awards"?

Or should there be a special "Treadwell" in the Darwin's. You know... like a "Lifetime Achievement" award...

 

[Pappy John]

I think most of the "Darwins" ARE lifetime achievement awards.

 

[Andrew Rothman]

The policies are fine. Campers are told what not to do -- basically everything Treadwell did!

And I repeat my earlier analysis of the situation:

 

[Cosmoline]

You are WAY off base with that post Mpayne!

I mean, there's no way a skinny kid from Malibu is going to have more protein than salmon.

 

[HBK]

I felt bad for the guy...until I read the details. What a waste of a life! He could have contributed much more to society if he had just learned what people who live in Alaska grow up knowing about bears.

MPayne: That post is offensive....to salmon everywhere.

 

[longtom4570]

I have a question about bear spray, how effective is it? Me personely i would carry a large gun, a laws rocket comes to mind

 

[HBK]

There are two books by Gary Sheldon that contain chapters on Bear Spray. THey are Bear Attacks and Bear Attacks II. I think that spray works, but it depends. Like if the animal is breating ion when it is sprayed, the spray is VERY effective. If it is not, it is not nearly as effective. There have been examples of Black Bears wiping their snouts on moss and with their paws to wipe the spray off, then attacking again. This is not information I gained through experience, but only through reading. I bet Keith or Cosmoline could answer any bear questions you have.

 

[Matt G]

Van Daele said some open snack food was found untouched inside the couple's tent. . .

. . . which any pimply-faced 11 year old Boy Scout with a rank of Tenderfoot can tell you is just STUPID, when in bear country.

Sometimes it takes a while, but if you really work at it, you can remove your gamets from the gene pool.

A panel that examined the circumstances of the deadly October brown bear attack in Katmai National Park and Preserve is recommending a review of the park's camping and bear management policies, federal officials said Wednesday.

Another example of an idiot Ruining It For Everybody.

 

[Jeff Thomas]

One of my personal guiding principles is to avoid checking out in such a way that people remember me for such Darwinesque behavior.

Indeed ironic that the guy's actions eventually led to the deaths of two bears.

His story will likely prevent a few future fools from taking the same path ... though we're sure to read someday again of such carelessness.

Regards from TX

 

[Cosmoline]

My big problem with spray is that it forces you to be way too close to use it. If it doesn't work--and work within a few seconds at most--it's too late to use anything else. If you're being charged at that range by a bear it's a good bet you'd be in your rights to use lethal force. And if you're not being charged or stalked you can just get out of there. In this respect rubber ball or beanbag loads from a 12 ga at 50 yards are a better non-lethal option than spray. I've got some ready for the spring in case we've got problem bears around the kennel. If they don't work, you can have your backup standing next to you with a large rifle at the ready.

 

[Archie]

... a review of the park's camping and bear management policies,

You mean I can't camp where the bears are feeding?

And I so much wanted to 'experience' the totality of bear-ness.....

 

[Quartus]

a laws rocket comes to mind

<sigh> It's a LAW (Light Antitank Weapon) and it's not a rocket.

And I so much wanted to 'experience' the totality of bear-ness.....

Whoa! Archie! I didn't know you could speak Malibuese!! Like, DOOD! Waaay coool!