Les Jones: Bear and Big Cat Attacks

October 10, 2003

Science > Bear and Big Cat Attacks

You've probably read the news that Timothy Treadwell and his girlfriend Aime Huguenard were mauled to death by a brown grizzly bear in Alaska. Treadwell treated brown bears as pets, and denied that they were dangerous:

"At best he's misguided," Deb Liggett, superintendent at Katmai, told the Anchorage Daily News in 2001. "At worst he's dangerous. If Timothy models unsafe behavior, that ultimately puts bears and other visitors at risk."
The same year, Treadwell was a guest on the "Late Show with David Letterman," describing Alaska brown bears as mostly harmless "party animals."

Now a tape recording found at the scene reveals that in the end Treadwell was pleading with Huguenard to beat the bear off of him. Suffice it to say that treating wild predators as cuddly cause celebes in need of human protection is a good way to wind up as an object lesson in a Jon Krakauer book.

This week also saw performer Roy Horn being attacked by one of his tigers. His co-star, Siegfried Fischbacher, claimed that the tiger drug Horn offstage to protect him. Experts dispute this, noting that the big cat sunk its teeth in his neck. Even after witnessing a tiger attack Fischbacher is apparently unable to conceptualize the nature of a predator. As another example of the way some people idealize man eaters, consider the case of Frances Frost, another victim of a big cat:

A couple of years back, a cougar killed a dog near the home of Frances Frost in Canmore, Alberta. Frost, an ''environmentalist dancer'' with impeccable pro-cougar credentials, objected strenuously to suggestions that the predator be tracked and put down. A month later, she was killed in broad daylight by a cougar who'd been methodically stalking her.

That excerpt comes from Mark Steyn's review of Bill Clinton and Mikhail Gorbachev's eco-friendly version of "Peter and the Wolf," in which a marauding wolf is captured, then re-introduced back to the wilderness.

I have some experience in this area. My degree is in biology, and my first job out of college was working as a field biologist in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I hiked into the woods, for miles in some cases, off-trail, alone, to collect water samples at nine study sites scattered across the park and its adjoining forests. Hiking four to five days a week, I ran into wild turkeys, white-tailed deer, and grouse, not to mention copperheads, rattlesnakes, and black bears.

One week persistent rain put me behind schedule. To catch up, I tried to visit three study sites in one day. On the way to the third site I ran into a black bear that had sat motionless as I approached. As I rounded a bend in the trail he erupted into a mass of gallping paws kicking up the forest floor. Luckily for me he ran away from me and not toward me, but he didn't go very far into the brush.

I could have gone past him to my destination, but it was getting late. I'd have to pass this same point on the way back, in near-darkness, alone. I might not be so lucky then. Though I was almost to the study site and I needed badly to get caught up, I thought better of it, turned around, and hiked back to the jeep.

That was in 1993. At that time, no one had ever been killed by a bear in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. That changed in 2001, when 50 year old Glenda Ann Bradley, a schoolteacher from Cosby, Tennessee, was killed by a black bear in the Elkmont section of the park.

Everyone was surprised by a black bear attack. Bear attacks in North America are almost exclusively the province of grizzly bears like the one that killed Treadwell.

It was also a grizzly bear that attacked my friend Tyson. (UPDATE: I recalled it as a grizzly, but it was a black bear. ) Tyson and I were best friends in high school and roommates in college. One summer between college terms he took an Outward Bound class on the Boundary Waters in Canada. The bear attacked without provocation and wouldn't let go. Other people in his group had to beat the bear with canoe paddles to get him to stop the attack. Because they were in a remote area of the backcountry it took 24 hours to evacuate him to a hospital. The bear had torn into his shoulder and mouthed his head, cutting a path in his scalp with one of his incisors. Tyson lived, and several operations later was back in good health and joking that he had "bearly" made it.

That same bear attacked someone else the next day. As with Tyson, the bear wouldn't let go, and had to be beaten back with canoe paddles. UPDATE: The Bounday Waters Journal has an extensive report on the 1987 attacks.

There are competing metaphors for wild nature, from the Bible's benevolent Garden of Eden to Tennyson's concept of "nature, red in tooth and claw." John Stuart Mill once remarked, "If there are any marks of all special design in creation, one of the things most evidently designed is that a large proportion of all animals should pass their existence in tormenting and devouring other animals."

I've worked in nature centers before, and in my experience they struck a healthy balance between assuaging irrational fears on the one hand, and giving good advice on avoiding dangerous animals on the other. For the fringe of the modern ecology movement, that isn't good enough. Their politics are heavily invested in the concept of man as the only destructive being, willful or otherwise, and facts be damned.

For vivid accounts of what happens when people underestimate nature, read Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild and Into Thin Air. Into the Wild tells the story of Chris McCandless, an Emory graduate who set out to Alaska to find adventure (and, one suspects, to prove himself), but who died alone in the wilderness. For a history of missing persons in the Smokies, I highly recommend Dwight McCarter's Lost!

Posted by lesjones

Dangerous Logic linked with They're Called 'Wild' For A Reason
Dangerous Logic linked with They're Called 'Wild' For A Reason

Comments

HI,
I enjoyed your article immensely and often find it humorous when people of the liberal pesuasion, try to bambyise natures predators.....we have had several killings by cougar in Colorado.....but your article about the balck bear malling took me back to 1971, when a black bear killed a man outside of Rocky Mountain National Park.....the bear had been a problem bear, pulling over dumpsters and in general a trash eater......autopsie reavealed plastic in his stomache and the same conclusion......it made him go insane!
There was a great article on this in Outdoor Life....they brought in a team with dogs to track the bear down!

Posted by: Larry Reeve at October 15, 2003

les, your essay makes good sense. i live in vermont, black bear habitat, and the natives and long time residents know to leave bears alone. if you don't mess with them they generally won't mess with you unless you surprise them and they see you as a threat, or as in the case you describe where something had caused the bear to lose it's fear of humans. treadwell was a fool and it's a pity he got the girl killed for his foolishness. i go armed in the woods here with at least a heavy caliber pistol but when i encounter a bear my first reaction is to try and avoid trouble, let the bear go on about his business and me about mine, the very few bear encounters i've had in 36 years living here that's worked so i'll stick to it. after all i'm alive and treadwell is bear feces.
"gunner"

Posted by: "gunner" at November 13, 2003

hi . anybody have any info on recent bear attacks , id like to hear about it . or any websites keeping track.. i hunt bear with hounds. im not about killing bear . i just like to run hounds like some run beagles or bird dogs.. its gets harder to hunt with hounds every year.being outlawed in many states. maine will be next . when a bear attacks somebody , the time is going to come when there are no hounds to call in.. bear are seen by many as cute and cudly disney animals. for the most part they are very shy . i think hunting them for generations has instilled this shyness and when not hunted they will become more agressive. they are capable of killing an adult moose. this has been documented. every time i read about a bear attack,the article will tell how rare it is... ok how rare is it really.???do a search on the internet ,will find its not as rare as i used to believe. if anybodies interested theres agood website about lion attacks.non fatal atacks are very common. http://tchester.org/sgm/lists/lion_attacks.html only fatal attacks make the news. thanks pete

Posted by: pete at November 25, 2003

The following is a partial listing of incidents involving captive big cats since 1990. These incidents have resulted in the killing of 73 big cats, 47 human deaths, and more than 153 human injuries. http://www.bigcatrescue.org/big_cat_news.htm

Posted by: Carole at February 13, 2004

People need to understand something about wild animals: THEY'RE WILD! You want an animal to live with? GET A DOG! When you look at a dog you are looking at a grey wolf! They where bred over time to look differnet. If you want something exotic, get a dog!
Big cats like cougars are very powerful animals. Poportionaly, they are among the strongest cats in the world! Have you been clawed by a house cat before? Have you ever had it's claws dig into you while it was trying to hang on to you? Muilitply that a hundred fold and that's what you get with a Cougar!
And lest not forget those Bears! THere is no animal of the same size that is as strong or stronger than a bear, not even Gorillas from what I hear. A 400 pound Black bear is strong enough to overpower a 500 pound lion and kill it! Just imagine what it or a much larger grizzly could do to you!
People trying to make them out to be nothing but "Cuddly beasts" and "Party Animals" will have a day of reckoning when they try to put that wisdom to the test.
I have a Pekingese dog at home that has been known to knock down cats almost three times it's weight. It frightens me what he would be capable of doing if he was 200 to 400 pounds!

My point: If the animal you want to have or own can snap your back or knock your head off with one blow of it's paw, or cut your Jugular veins in a split second, and you have no experience and knowldege of how to handel these animals, then GET A DOG! Dont like Dogs? GET A CAT! Dont like neither? GET A FERRET! Still want those exotic animals? GO SEE Them AT THE ZOO!

Posted by: Travis Jackson at June 26, 2004

Is the lion a better fighter than the tiger?

Posted by: Gustav at September 02, 2004

If you are still interested in obtaining any animal and don't know how to take care of it - DON'T. Please do those who own animals this favor, get educated and certified first. Go to www.animalschool.com. They will teach you how to properly take care of animals. Or go to a Vet school.

Don't get one because it�s cool. You are just asking for trouble then. Get Educated first.

Posted by: Bob Nevin at October 26, 2004

need picture's

Posted by: ruby at March 14, 2005

If only real life worked that way!

Posted by: Philosocles at April 07, 2005

Look. Humans kill humans everyday often for the dumbest reason. Friends turn on friends, spouses on each othere, etc. Do we then go "Oh watch out for husbands they're killers"?? Why people get so bent when a non-human animal takes out a human is beyond me. I don't see the same reaction when the animal killed is also not human.

You live with non-human animals you may get attacked or killed. Everyone who does so knows this. Treadwell - in his book - details at least 3 times when he thought he was a goner. You'll also learn that he came close to being killed by other humans a couple times.

Posted by: POV at April 24, 2005

would like gunner to drop me a e mail as i have some grizzly pictures for him of a killing of a hiker

Posted by: Tony at June 02, 2005

The Timothy Treadwell case is one of this. U have to give wild animals a certain respect, BUT ON THE OTHER HAND U NEVER TRUST THEM.And that is the one thing he failed to do,He thought he knew enough aboutthe bears. But in reality he forgot that Animals are unpredictable no matter what science or proffessionals say. Timothy Treadwell was a city boy turned naturalist,he supposedly thought he knew what he was doing. He paid the ultimate price playing a egotistical now it all, but in the same he also got an innocent girl killed because he more than likely didnt teach or tell her the full truth of what a bear can do. He basically signed her deathwarrant when he took her to Alaska. Granted I cant condem him for what he was trying to do. We need more people in this day and age that want to protect our remaining wildlife and forests (Now I am not supporting the animal rights movement) I am a Hunter I love being in the outdoors and I believe the world and our youth should be educated in the knowledge of our Wild Outdoors. And I believe if u want to become an animal biologist or something close to the matter, that you should go to school become knowledgeable in these things and help preserve what we have left But Donot Try to do what MR Grizzly tried to do.

Posted by: Josh Polka at August 13, 2005

Hello. In the fall of 2001 my husband and I went to Alaska just to see the brown bear. We flew to Kodiak where we signed up with a guide to fly out to the Katmai Peninsula. The guide who took us is the guide who discovered Tim Treadwell's body along with his girlfriend's body. I'm guessing we probably were not too terribly far from where the fatal attack happened although Alaska is big country. We were taken out ON FOOT with another couple and a young, single guy from New Zealand to observe the bears. We wore above the knee rubber boots and my husband and I carried binoculars and a camcorder. It was the chance of a lifetime. We observed a big male grizzly going for a quick swim in a small lake and then he came on land to lay in the tall grass and nap. Had our guide not known where he was, we could have walked right up on him and surprised him since the grass was so tall. Not a good idea!! He appeared to be very full and sleepy. He looked right at us but didn't seem too concerned. We were fairly close to him. As close as I wanted to be!! Then we walked a bit further and watched a sow (mamma bear) and her two cubs as they nursed. They sat on her belly and looked over at us with milk all over their faces. Very cute. We were quite close to them as well. The mother bear was very aware of us but didn't appear to show any signs of aggression...fortunately!! We had a wonderful time but I was constantly aware of the danger. I'm not sure if a bear would attack a group of 6 people but we made a point of not falling behind.

Posted by: Jene Asel at August 14, 2005

Why do people bring politics into it. Someone said "people of the liberal persuasion." Give me a break already misunderstanding nature has NOTHING to do with politics.

Thanks for a great site

Posted by: rox at September 07, 2005

I was attacked by two Grizzly Bears two years ago, they got me on the ground, the female was trying to pull me into her den box, when the 700 pound male joined in the attack, first his huge paw hit me behind my ear, then he bit me in the middle of my back, i knew they were going to kill me, what saved my life was there was a electric fence wire that was close when the male grabbed me, he was walking around shaking me, he dropped me when my heavy coat ripped, thats when i got behind the electric wire, he stopped the attack because they are afraid of electrical current. i spent 7 hours in the emergency room getting sewed up, i was left with some huge scars, but at least i'm alive. i can't explain the super strengh of a big bear, i'm more careful now whenever i go in with them. Kenny Hetrick Tigerridge@webtv.net Ohio

Posted by: Kenny Hetrick at November 28, 2005

Hey there guys! I am surfing through different guestbooks and my job is to find the Top 100 websites on the net, to addition I have to make a report on the average sites too. So, here I am leaving this messege. If you see this, then your site has been automatically entered in the competition. Good Luck!!!

Posted by: Pamela at January 20, 2006

i kenny u r in the newspaer and your bears really cute

Posted by: kayleigh at February 04, 2006

My only fear is Bears,yet at the same time time I have this fascination with them,I can't really explain it.I saw Timothy's movie obviously he wasn't all there but then again neither am I.I think I need to see them for myself ,I think I'll never be satisfied or begin to understand unless I see them for myself.Wish me luck

Posted by: Mike at February 20, 2006

you should stop killing animals, even if there about to eat you.

I MEAN IT!

Posted by: at April 01, 2006

Mike....you are very ignorant! In 1996 I was involved with what some have considered the worst black bear mauling in the history of the united states that someone has survived! Man was created along with beast! We are all given weapons by god at birth to survive on this rock we call earth. Our brains are our weapons we have every right to defend ourselfs with it! We share this world...one does not own it. PETA has taken a crazy stand against self defense when it comes to animal attacks. I would love to see what they would do when a bear is eating their child alive right in front of them. Why does a mother have the ability to lift a car off her child after it backs over him/her? Our creator would not put us on the world with dangerous creatures and not have the means to fight, nor not give us the will to fight. Wether you want to belive it or not...WE as humans are the ALPHA...we live in a world where the strong survive...you better learn human life is far more important than any other animal on this earth! I MEAN IT!

Posted by: Tom at April 18, 2006

To value an animal over a human life it seems to me to be pretty stupid. Those that do ought to remember that the definition of that is called "Paganism"..NOT Christian charity for all God's creatures.

Posted by: JC Nowlin at April 24, 2006

Just wanted to comment. I hate wild animals! There's a cougar or really big bobcat taking and cleaning all my cats from my yard. I've found one set of remains already, but the other 4 cats are gone. Snatched right out from under me they were. Anyway, I'm going on a hunt. I intend to kill that cougar, bobcat, etc. And if he gets another one of my cats, I'm going to be one of the few people to cleave a dead wild cat apart and grill its flesh.

Posted by: Derek at May 21, 2006

Great post. But I'm confused about one comment you make -- you mention that your friend Tyson was mauled by a grizzly in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. You may want to double-check that. BWCA supports a very healthy black bear population, but this is the first I have heard of any grizzly bears in the area. (Could have escaped from a zoo, I suppose.)

Also, if the attack occurred in Canada, it was in Quetico Provincial Park, not in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, which in on the Minnesota side of the international border.

Finally, there's no tension between the Bible's description of a harmonious Eden in the opening chapters of Genesis, and of Tennyson's characterization of "nature, red in tooth and claw." The biblical Eden predates the fall into sin, which not only corrupted human nature, but also destroyed the harmonious balance of nature.

Posted by: Mike at May 29, 2006

Mike, I checked and you're right. It was a black bear. I've corrected it above. When I Googled, I found this report, which has more details.

Posted by: Les Jones at May 29, 2006

My neighbor and I were finishing a walk this morning and heard a bear bellow and a horse scream. Then we heard the bear again and the horse sounded done for. We live in Wa. State. I called the wildlife fish and game. The woman thought I was nuts. She said without visual, they wouldn't check it out, and it was probably a dog or coyote. Right. I know what a dog sound like and it was not a dog!

Posted by: sandy at June 20, 2006

My 12 year old and two of his friends were attacted by a staving Full grown male black bear about 5 years ago in Ruidoso New Mexaco. The bear got between them and the cabin we were staying in. The bear then stalked the boys for about 3 hours before attacking. One boy was hospitalized.

Posted by: Mark Mansell at July 23, 2006

Wow thats amazing you no that right well got to go and my dad went to alask 2 weeks ago

Posted by: Brittney at July 28, 2006

Your anecdote re the BWCWA is INCORRECT. Those two were attacked by a BLACK bear, NOT a 'grizzly' as you say. There are no grizzly in the BWCWA.

Posted by: Gordon at August 13, 2006

Gordon, you're correct. Check the comment five comments above you where I acknowledge that. Thanks for typing in all caps, though.

Posted by: Les Jones at August 13, 2006

i have had 5 operations from a bear attack in sitka alaska. i am happy to say that you would not know it today, and i have no disability in the least. because of my interest in this, i have found out that there are far more bear attacks then anyone is lead to believe. as far as the goverment is concerned, they don´t want the public to feel any need to arm themselves, as they plan complete disarement of the people. for the most part bears will leave you alone. but there is a great increase in bear attacks. there is a simple answer to this that the fish, and wildlife will never tell you. it is simple. they are so protected now days, that they are loosing there fear of man. it can not be any more simple. this is the simple fact. bears are protected to a great part even after attack. my attack was completely unprovoked. i have no hatred for bears. but you are a complete fool if you go into brown bear country without a gun. i will tell you who the experts are. these are the trappers, and prospectors still living in the wilderness of alaska. they would tell you to yor face, that you are a fool to travel in the wilderness without a gun. thank you.

Posted by: david whipps at August 28, 2006

Black bears here in Colorado are not to be trusted. Years ago, I happened onto a single rabbit's foot in the snow along a trail. It was still warm when I picked it up. Bear tracks were unmistakable. It was late afternoon and I decided to head straight back to my 2 wheel drive Travelall, only to find it stuck iced up in the snow about 100 feet from the main road I had turned off of. Within 30 minutes it was pitch black and I found myself sitting in the car listening to the brush limbs next to the driver's door snap and crack as Bob Bear was making his presence in the dark known to me. I had a 22 mag rifle with me, but figured an injured bear would be a really pissed bear, so I stayed put. About 2AM, my neighbor showed up in his jeep since I had left a note with my wife detailing where I was going to hike. The next day, we returned to get the Travelall and we found bear paw prints on the roof, hood, and every window. That bear marked and claimed his victory over man. At least I didn't end up as dinner like the poor guy living in a camping trailer in the mountains here did a few years ago. His cause of death was said to be dismemberment and devouring by a black bear after the door of his trailer had been ripped off. Ever since my encounter, I carry nothing less than a 45 auto when I hike in the mountains.

Posted by: Larry at September 21, 2006

Les, I'm perusing the internet planning for Christmas and somehow ended up on your site. I was one of the Outward Bound students with Tyson on that frightening September Day. Tell him I said hello, and I've thought of him often. He was amazingly brave! And no, my kids have not gotten any teddy bears from me through the years.

Posted by: Dee at November 06, 2006

Alaska. What about New Jersey !!! I live in one if the most liberal ,PITA loving states , & Black Bear have become a increasing problem in northen N.J. Back in 1998. I shot a Buck, while positioned up a tree in a northern N.J. State park. After dropping a 8 pt. buck I proceded to come down the tree and retrive my deer... well in the time it took me to start walking through the swampy thicket seperating me from my deer, a black bear. ( hunt was in dec & bears were not in hibernation due to very warm weather conditions)proceeded to mock "kill" my deer & then spent the next 48 min. feasting on my deer. I reported incident to game warden who remarked that this was ,@that time. the the most aggressive report of bear contact with Humans.
Since then , N.J. had 1 bear hunt season . But Our Spineless EPA , which controlls , Fish & Game
regulations, has caved in to the PITA group. & has not issued a hunt for the last 2 years. It's only a matter on time before some hiker turns into a " Big Mac" Can't waite to here what EPA & PITA will say about that . Stay tuned This winter is warm , today it's 50 deg's & just the other day while muzzelloading hunting the hikers were out in force.

Posted by: Rick at December 24, 2006

can i write a letter to you about animals?

Posted by: kenya at January 09, 2007

do you have cool animals for me?

Posted by: .arnesha at January 09, 2007

hi
i think you and your animals are stupid retared
slow and do not have comin sense i am the queen
of animal planet which is far away from your
stipid company you better give me money for this
or somthing bad is going to happen you.

Posted by: kimberly at January 09, 2007

People would be much safer in areas with dangerous animals if they took a dog with them and if government stopped the stupid laws that prohibit hikers,campers and nature lovers from carrying a defensive firearm.Anyone who has a family member killed or maimed by a wild animal in a national or state park should sue the U.S. interior dept or the state the park is in.Personally i'd prefe5r to hike with an airedale terrier and a 357 mag.Jim

Posted by: James at May 16, 2007

Hungry bears and dumb human neo druid treehuggers = LUNCH Johnny ehhhhhaaaawwwwww

Posted by: Johnny Reb at May 16, 2007

RESPECT...that's what is important when you're out among predatory type animals. The vast majority of bears and cougars are afraid of man, however, just like the serial killer among the human race, animals have their psychotics as well as those with stronger instincts to protect their young. To ignore this fact, especially if you have a family, is both naive, irresponsible and in some cases, cowardly (those who only possess "flight" of the "fight or flight" gene").

I lived in Alaska for three years. Bear attacks were not uncommon during the spring and summer months, nor were shotgun toting (with a deer slug) dads along hiking trails. I know few people who would enjoy killing a bear, even in self defense. It would be a traumatic experience for most. The best thing to do is to be responsible, make your presecence known and avoid getting between a mother and cubs. However, part of your responsibility is also to protect yourself because if you get eaten, their going to hunt down and kill that bear anyway. No reason for two of God's creatures to die.

Posted by: bfree at June 20, 2007

Some of these posts are very interesting. I just found this page while updating my bear encounter database (personal). After a trip to Alaska and NW. Canada last summer I realize my knowledge of the area was seriously lacking.

In MN, we have, by some reports, as many as 30,000 black bears! I think one lives just behind my yard. I can see a den and I hear things sometimes. We had a bear struck by a car last week 4 miles away, and a town 8 mi from here are currently having problems with 2 bears. We more 'urban' creatures don't realize how close and how many bears there are in our neighborhoods.

As for 'queen of animal planet', before calling people stupid, you need to learn to spell, and composition would be my 2nd suggestion.

We 21st century folk had better learn a bit of balance, instead of either complete eradication OR complete protection. Neither of these are solutions. I agree that we need to start hunting these apex predators again or we won't be on that list anymore, and we will have big problems with wildlife.

Posted by: Patty at October 31, 2007