Bear attacks camper on New Jersey AT

[Jack Tarlin]

Wolf, it already IS a motion picture: There is a review of "Grizzly Man," Werner Herzog's new documentary about the life and death of Timothy Treadwell, in today's New York Times.

The review is excellent, and the film is supposed to be likewise.

[Lone Wolf]

An excellent film about an idiot.hmmm.

[SGT Rock]

Forest Gump was an excellent movie about an idiot

But it was nothing like the book, and I liked the book 100% better.

[Air Head]

I still watch Forrest time and again. I should get it for DVD soon. Rock, you should take a look at one of the other book Winston Groom wrote... ugh. the name escapes me right now.

[justusryans]

An excellent film about an idiot.hmmm.

I don't know about Excellent Film, but you got the idiot part right. BEARS ARE UNPREDICTABLE. You can interact with a brown bear and get the same response 9 times, but the 10th time..... they will hurt your feelings! I lived in Alaska, I have been closer than I wanted to be to bears up there on several occassions, they are not warm and fuzzy teddy bears. Tim Treadwell found out what the rest of us know the hard way.

[Panzer1]

Wolf, it already IS a motion picture: There is a review of "Grizzly Man," Werner Herzog's new documentary about the life and death of Timothy Treadwell, in today's New York Times.
The review is excellent, and the film is supposed to be likewise.

There was a documentary about him on TV just last night. His death screams were recorded on his video camera as the video camera happened to be running the whole time they were attacked. It was said that the bear that attacked them was starving at the time of the attack. Bears may be friendly enough when they are well fed, but when they are starving, you are "FOOD". Also, there was speculation that Treadwell may have had some form of mental illness. And heck, who knows, the bear may of had a mental illness too.

Panzer

[justusryans]

Also, there was speculation that Treadwell may have had some form of mental illness. Panzer

It's funny you should say that, My wife and I caught it on PBS last night and Laura commented that he seemed manic. As I watched him I got the same impression that he was acting manic. I'm not a psychiatriast but I am manic-depressive so I know what it looks like. It was just a matter of time.

[NJHiker]

OK, that fact wasn't in either story or mentioned before.

NJ seems to draw the stupiest hikers. I remember one story where a father baited a bear with a bagel so he could take a picture of it along side his son. The son got bit. IMO, the father should have been shot instead of the bear.

For the most part, the AT in NJ is a very accessible area. That incident happened a few years ago at Worthington St Forest, in the Del. Water Gap area (red/white blaze to the top of Mount Tamminy). I was there that day. The bear never bit the kid...the kid got scared and bolted. The bear gave chase. The boy was injured when he fell and scraped his arm. The bear did approach the fallen boy and took a swipe at his leg, but again, the boy was not chomped.

Rangers set out on a hunt for an agressive, large male bear. Needless to say, that was an exageration of the truth, much like the rest of the reported story. The only bear they found in the area was a small 2 year old female "loner".

After interviewing the father and son separately, the park rangers charged the father with reckless endangerment....of both the child AND the bear. He was also charged with misdemeanors of feeding wildlife in a state park. If I recall correctly, the fines were stiff and he had to complete a lot of 'community service'.
same
On the recent "attack", I met up with this bear several times over the last two years (reported each time as a non-incident). I recognized the bald patches on it's right hind quarter. One run in was near the Rutherford shelter (about 2.8 miles NoBo from Mashipicong), another time was on Dutch Shoe Rock (in the same area). A third encounter was at Lake Rutherford - it was swiming and playing in the water - maybe fishing? In all these encounters, the bear was not agressive, but docile and wary of us. We were able to keep our distance and it left us alone. Perhaps some dummy recently fed it and it began to thik of humans as a source of food.

IMHO - Rangers in NJ do everything they can to protect the average visitors. While they make valiant efforts to do so, they are not babysitters or hand-holders. Backpackers are supposed to have enough intelligence to be aware of their surroundings and take appropriate precautions. High Point has the better idea about this.....they require hikers to register their destination, stay and get a free parking permit for the long term lot. Perhaps if ALL parks in NJ adapted this strategy (Stokes and Worthington included), we could avoid unfortunate problems and circumstances like this.

[Sly]

NJHiker thanks for the setting the story straight and the insight about NJ bears.

I remember seeing two beautiful, healthy looking bears in NJ during my hike, one only about 10 yards away. Like most they were timid and wanted no part of us. I can't imagine intentionally trying to bait one for a photo op.

Love your sig...

[Sly]

... no, no no no, he's outside looking in.

I'd rather be eaten by a grizzly than die a slow painful death on a hospital bed or drop dead of a heart attack at work for that matter.

I imagine after the first bite you don't feel much and it's more of a out of body experience.

I thought Treadwell's "Grizzly Diairies" were awesome.

[dougmeredith]

I'd rather be eaten by a grizzly than die a slow painful death on a hospital bed or drop dead of a heart attack at work for that matter.

I can't really say that I agree with you on this one.

Doug

[Sly]

I can't really say that I agree with you on this one.

Yeah, I wouldn't think many would, but I know one other that likes the idea!

[Air Head]

well, I wouldn't mind, so long as the bear went for the right body parts, so that I wouldn't feel anything. and for the record, a heart attack in my sleep is my preferred method of entering the category of being "life challenged." : )

[Blasted]

"Yes, the campers caused the bear to be killed by not storing their food properly and leaving food in a backpack right next to the sleeping camper. They were careless, didn't pay attention to signs, park info and brochures and this could have been prevented."

A-Train, i know you probably heard stories that we didnt put our food away properly or whatever. However that is completely false. Everyone put their food and any other smellables in the bear box. We took an hour going through everything and making sure it was all stored properly. Yes, i understand that there may have been residue left by some of the food, but please don't blame us for the bear's death. The video, which i did not take and am also upset about, shows that the bear went for the bear box following the bite. YES, the attack was small and YES it was no more then a muzzling . I myself pleaded with the rangers to save the bear's life if it was at all possible. Also, there was no bookbag next to the attacked. the camper's bag went missing during the night. there was no lure for the bear. he was just curious and was checking out his own territory. I feel terrible about her death and i hope such events wont happen in the future.

[A-Train]

Blasted-

I don't wish to debate this, as it's been done to death here a few weeks ago, but didn't you say a bag "went missing" in the night? The story that was relayed to me from High Pt staff and rangers was that your group admitted to having Graham Crackers in the missing pack and that the pack was dragged away. Is this true or not?

I'm glad no one in your group was seriously hurt or killed. As a ridgerunner, no matter how much I try to preserve the trail and it's inhabitants (bears) my most important priority is the safety of the people on the trail

[Rancid]

Apparently you were present at the campsite when this took place. It is tragic that the bear "had" to be put down, but I doubt very much that your group was the cause of her demise. It probably started when she was very young and looked all cuddley to campers and hikers who wanted to "help" a little bear, and now caused her death. Habits developed by animals don't just happen in a day, but take time, just like us humans. She knew that some humans are slobs by habit, so that the box is sometimes left unlatched; FREE FOOD!!! Anyway, take it as a tough lesson and learn from it, but pass it on to the next slob that you meet on the trail or shelter, they're out there!
Welcome to WhiteBlaze, you'll find lots of help on planning your future hikes.
Rancid

[Blasted]

Rancid and A-train,

thanks for understanding the situation. As for the camper's bag, i know he might have told the rangers that he had food in it, but i doubt it highly that he did. the counselors took it upon themselves to check every bag. it was "taken" during the night and we have no idea who or what took it. There could have possibly been crumbs in the bag, that is more likely. the camper wasn't asked about his bag contents until weeks after the incident so he probably just assumed he left some crackers, who knows. i am sorry to come so late in the discussion on the whole thing. i just wanted to clear up the blame on the counselors. as for the video taper, that is a whole other matter of just plain craziness, i really don't know what he was thinking. i hope that clears up everything for the most part. the media really made it seem a lot worse then it was and completely messed up everything as usual. again thanks for talking about it in a respectable way. if i heard this story, my first intentions would be those people were idiots and knew nothing.

[Lilred]

Ok now I'm confused. Blasted, you say you were there? Were you watching the guy video taping or were you one of the ones that were asleep? It seems to me that all this could have been avoided if, instead of video taping the event, ya'll made noise and racket to scare the bear away. Leaving crumbs or residue in a backpack was not the problem. Letting a bear walk around a camp, while people were vulnerable, without trying to scare it away, was the problem.

[Blasted]

Understandable question my friend. I was asleep near the guy with the camera, i awoke as the attacked counselor was scaring away the bear by blowing his whistle. your claim is very true, the video taper should have tried something to scare away the bear from the sleeping counselor, making loud noises or at the very least waking me up. who knows why it didn't work out that way.

[frieden]

We just got a book at work on this, called The Grizzly Maze.

The Grizzly Maze: Timothy Treadwell's Fatal Obsession with Alaskan Bears
by Nick Jans (Hardcover - July 7, 2005)

They are calling this guy a hero. Geez.