Death
In October 2003, Treadwell and his girlfriend, physician assistant Amie Huguenard, visited Katmai National Park. In the film Grizzly Man, Werner Herzog states that Huguenard feared bears and felt deeply uncomfortable in their presence. Her final journal entries indicated that she wanted to be away from Katmai. Treadwell chose to set his campsite near a salmon stream where grizzlies commonly feed in autumn. Treadwell was in the park later in the year than usual, at a time when bears struggle to gain as much fat as possible before winter, and limited food supplies cause them to be more aggressive than in other months. Food was scarce that fall, causing the grizzly bears to be even more aggressive than usual.
Treadwell was to leave the park at his usual time of year, but extended his stay a week in an effort to locate a favorite female brown bear not seen earlier. He said he hated modern civilization and felt better in nature with the bears than he did in big cities around humans. He repeatedly said he hated humans too. The bears he had been used to during the summer had already gone into hibernation, and bears that Treadwell did not know from other parts of the park were moving into the area. The very last footage that shows Treadwell alive also shows a bear behind him; the bear had been diving into the river repeatedly for a piece of dead salmon. Treadwell mentioned in the footage that he did not feel entirely comfortable around that particular bear.
Around noon on Sunday, October 5, 2003, Treadwell spoke with an associate in Malibu, California by satellite phone. Treadwell mentioned no problems with any bears. The next day, October 6, Willy Fulton, the Kodiak air taxi pilot, arrived at their campsite to pick them up but found the area abandoned except for a bear and contacted the local park rangers. The mangled remains of Treadwell and Huguenard were discovered quickly upon investigation. Treadwell's disfigured head, partial spine, and right forearm and hand, with his wrist watch still on, were recovered a short distance from the camp. Huguenard's partial remains were found next to the torn and collapsed tents, partially buried in a mound of twigs and dirt. A large male grizzly (tagged Bear 141) protecting the campsite was killed by park rangers during their attempt to retrieve the bodies. A second adolescent bear was also killed a short time later when it charged the park rangers. An on-site necropsy of Bear 141 revealed human body parts such as fingers and limbs. The younger bear was consumed by other animals before it could be necropsied.
In the 85-year history of Katmai National Park, this was the first known incident of a person being killed by a bear.
A video camera was recovered at the site which proved to have been operating during the attack. However, according to Alaska State Trooper spokesman Greg Wilkinson, no images were found on the tape. This fact led troopers to believe the attack might have happened while the camera was stuffed in a duffel bag or during the dark of night. The camera had been turned on just before the attack, presumably by Huguenard, but the camera recorded only six minutes of audio before running out of tape. This, however, was enough time to record the bear's initial attack on Treadwell and his agonized screams, its retreat when Huguenard attacked it, its return to carry Treadwell off into the forest, and Huguenard's screams of horror as she is left alone. The tape is now the property of Jewel Palovak, Treadwell's ex-girlfriend.
In Grizzly Man, Herzog listens to the recording on headphones (leaving it unheard on the film's soundtrack) and then urges Palovak to destroy it. In the follow-up mini-series, The Grizzly Man Diaries, Palovak admits she still owns the tape but has not listened to its contents and says she hopes she never does. Herzog has stated that Palovak later "separated herself from the tape" by putting it in a bank vault.
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