Yes, Timothy Treadwell, you were a very troubled man. I was with you in the beginning of this film. Who amongst us hasn't yearned for the opportunity to live with the animals in nature? (OK, well, I have, maybe others have not.) And you were bringing the beauty of nature to the children of the world, and you thought you were doing the bears good. That was your mission and I bought into it.
But about 30 minutes into it, I heard the native Alaskan guy saying that you crossed the line, that you were socializing the bears to live with humans. And that was wrong - the natives respected the bears and avoided them, and vice versa. You tried to be friends with them and every other animal in your presence. The fox on your tent was cute, but then you took it as a pet and assumed it belonged to you, and that you belonged there. You assumed that they loved you like you proclaimed to love them. And you assumed the same about the bears.
Um, OK. They're BEARS. Not domestic cats or dogs, not genteel brown bears either - they were grizzly bears, who survive on instinct. Who don't kill for fun like polar bears, but rather for survival. (Oh and also, you were just 100% fucked up.)
This might be controversial, but I have to say that I'm glad you suffered the fate you did. In some sick way, I almost wanted to hear the audio of your last encounter where you died. Almost. But then I didn't because it would just be too gross. But just for validation that your existence amongst them was utterly wrong. I have utmost respect for the director for not playing this audio on the documentary, but...
But I've been in the presence of bears in their natural habitat, and yeah - humans and bears were not meant to co-exist. They were meant, as the native Alaskan referenced, to live in constant fear of each other. The bears were here first, so they get first rights to anything. Period. And we should be scared of them. And given the progression of gun enhancements in recent years, they should be scared of us.
Oh and also, you irritated me. I'm sorry you were so disappointed with your life, but bringing that into nature and exploiting these beautiful beasts and then ultimately turning them into a monster who brought about your demise - not cool.
Why do humans insist on doing this? You're in the desert, rattlesnakes live there, you get bit by one, no one is around, you die. Period. Desert, wilderness, cool mountains, it really doesn't matter. We are the inferior species. We think we can rely on our cell phones, our medical and technological advances, our "intellect." We can't. We will lose in the end.
Perhaps I'm excessively heartless these days. Maybe. But I'll happily stay in my technologically-savvy world, you stay in your natural habitat, and if the twain shall meet you get priority. All will be fine, I will deserve any fate you bring my way.
Except for ants. I fucking hate ants. Stay out of my apartment, you goddamn fucking ants.
You're not contradicting yourself. Humans are the inferior species in wild animals' habitats, and superior in their own. Even in the suburbs a grizzly is likely to get creamed by an SUV.
ReplyDeletePerhaps there are details of your life I don't know, but I assume you don't march into the desert or mountains and try to exterminate every ant trail out there. Only when the invade your habitat, then it's time to assert yourself.
I can elucidate this because my human gives the habitat lecture whenever he's trying to slaughter fruit flies. He seems to forget though when merely deporting spiders.
Good post, Jen(n)!
ReplyDeleteI'm good and scared of bears.
But ants? Fuck 'em. My daughter started getting soppy over the upcoming violent death of one of the hundreds of ants bivouacked in our kitchen, and I had to tell her it wasn't a pet, it was an ant, fer cryin' out loud.
Grizzly Bears will in fact kill for what appears to be the sport of it. Very few anmals do this, but grizzlies will maul an animal sometimes and not eat a bite.
ReplyDeleteAnd a wounded grizzly will kill EVERYTHING it comes in contact with.