Wow. Really reminds us we are guests in many habitats, doesn't it? As a nurse often in the ER and with a storng stomach, I'd like to see the "worse" too, if you would send me a link., please.?
I also saw "The Grizzly Man" movie last week, about the guy who lived among Grizzlies in AK very unwisely for 13 years and basically treated them as pets (iimo) until one got tired of that and basically ate him and his girlfriend one night. And his video camera was on (but a cap covered it) so only the audio of his screaming was there..
I recommend it. very humbling. (and the poor guy was a fool).
Sandy R
Posted by Kent Staubus on July 29, 2006 at 7:29 PM
I saw the "grizzly man" a few months ago and came away thinking that guy was emotionally disturbed.
Wow! I am not squimish since I work with animals and have seen this stuff before (but with animals) but man that was rough. I was 7 and visiting the Cherokee reservation in NC when we came upon a baby brown bear at a pull off. We stopped to have lunch and before my dad could tell me to stay in the car, I was out and feeding it a Hersey Bar. I remember hearing a rustle in the bushes next to me and turning my head towards it. I came nose to nose with Mama bear. She snorted at me and swiped her paw. All I remember is being pulled by the hood of my jacket and feeling the wind from her paw. My dad grabbed me and ran to the car. Oh did I ever get a whipping for that little trick. That is my first encounter with a bear. My second one was almost the same but this one was caged. I was 13 that time. I guess I didn't learn from the first one. The guy in "Grizzly Man" was a fool and I was so angry after I saw that show. I have so many pictures of the bears on hoods of cars in the Smokey Mountains and one of the paw prints in the hood of my grandfathers car. Amazes me how so many people still do not understand that the term "wild animal" is just that "wild".
I agree that the Grizzly Man had some serious problems. "Foolish" was the least of them. Read the "Night of the Grizzles" if you want to see the follosihness of people. It's a true story of Glacier National park in the 50's or so. they actually put trash out for the many grizzlies, and had a platform for people to watch them. then the people walked through the woods along dark opaths to get to their cabins. I wonder why 2 of them got eaten one night??
Absolute STUPIDITY!!!!!!!!
It's a good book to remind us of our place. don't read it alone in a cabin in GNP, as I did. SAndy Richards
Uff, on my recent trip to Spitsbergen/Svalbard (very much Polar Bear country), I slept in a tent with only a rifle in the tent and a trip-wire around the tent. I had much trouble sleeping, imagining all kind of ugly scenarios Pretty happy I hadn't seen these pictures before my trip!
BTW - just a couple of days before my camp-out there, a guy in a kayak had to be saved from the same area, as a polarbear had decided upon him for lunch Apparently it kept him under close watch so he couldn't get to shore. After 3 days+nights he gave up and called for help, and was picked up by the rescue-helicopter.
I wonder if polar bears will increasingly turn to humans for food in the Churchill area, based on the show I watched on the Discovery Channel recently, "Global Warming: What You Need To Know". The show said that global warming will be particularly hard on the polar bears because of the reduction of ice floes during the spring seal-hunting season--spring is coming sooner and not lasting as long. The scientists studying the Churchill polar bear population are noticing the bears are not getting the food they need to support themselves and their young as healthfully as years past. Average weight has decreased, mortality of young has increased, etc.
I also saw Grizzly Man recently but could not finish it...I felt "icky" to be exposed to someone who treated Kodiak grizzly bears like children.
Discussion
11 repliesI also saw "The Grizzly Man" movie last week, about the guy who lived among Grizzlies in AK very unwisely for 13 years and basically treated them as pets (iimo) until one got tired of that and basically ate him and his girlfriend one night. And his video camera was on (but a cap covered it) so only the audio of his screaming was there..
I recommend it. very humbling. (and the poor guy was a fool).
Sandy R
Kent in SD
Guests? Actually, it reminds us that we are potentially lunch in many habitats.
Don't look if you're squeemish!
http://www.b0g.org/wsnm/articles/Polar+Bear+Attack
Duane
Tammy
Absolute STUPIDITY!!!!!!!!
It's a good book to remind us of our place. don't read it alone in a cabin in GNP, as I did. SAndy Richards
BTW - just a couple of days before my camp-out there, a guy in a kayak had to be saved from the same area, as a polarbear had decided upon him for lunch
I also saw Grizzly Man recently but could not finish it...I felt "icky" to be exposed to someone who treated Kodiak grizzly bears like children.