Grizzly Man

By: Rolland Martins
College Now Course - SCI 1

The grizzly man, Timothy Treadwell, went in several places to protect bears and to educate the public about them. One of the places that he went was the Alaskan Peninsula. He wanted to show the bears in their natural habitat. While on his trips, he discovered that bears work together in strong packs. The grizzly man is trying to hold his ground while trying to get to know the bears in the Alaskan Peninsula. He explained that, "if anyone is in their territory for a few days, and they try to move from that territory, the bears will bite or decapitate them. Treadwell felt such an excitement when he saw how tall one of the bears was. That excitement he felt connected him immediately with children. In Treadwell's campaign to create awareness, he reached thousands and thousands of school children, who would remember his astounding story-telling to be one of the highlights of their school years. He took his mission so seriously that he never solicited a fee for the lectures. Because of his hard work to create awareness, he reached the point of becoming a celebrity. Treadwell's passion for bears was phenomenal. Treadwell explained to interviewers that he will never go into a bear's home and kill it or kill a bear in defense of his life.

One of Treadwell's close friends spoke of his horrible death. A strange and unknown bear had taken the life of the superb Treadwell and his girl friend Amy. Upon opening the stomach of the bear after his death, clothing and people were collected. The fishing offers who did the post-mortem on the bear accumulated four garbage bags of people. Treadwell's mission was to help the resources of bears while performing this task, and he was unprotected. He disguised himself by wearing bear costumes. Many people thought that he deserved what he was asking for...some people thought that Treadwell was mentally challenged, and they ignored him. But, on the day that he was killed, the bear must have had enough of him...Treadwell had lost sight of what was really going on. He was never going to bond with bears. Treadwell once wrote in a letter that he wanted to mutate into a bear; to handle the life he had with bears.

He once said that for people to take him more seriously, he would have to die in order to get is message across. Instead of his message being understood for the purpose intended, many hate mails were sent to him.

The concept of the documentary, which I admired, was how Treadwell took the initiative to protect and preserve bears worldwide. He used his camera to get his message across; but, the idea of being with the bears was ridiculous. He failed to recognize that in nature there are predators and prey.

My opinion is that Treadwell went distances to protect bears worldwide. In many ways, he preserved and succeeded to a certain extent. Despite insults and controversies that arose, he still looked to the future with optimism and joy. He prevented many bears from being killed by hunters worldwide.

The part that impressed me the most, was that Treadwell went to various schools and told stories about his mission. He took his mission seriously, and never solicited a fee. Through his effort, he reached many school children in his campaign to create awareness. His love and compassion for bears will never fade away. Although he knew the danger to his life, he never stopped and questioned it.

In conclusion, Timothy Treadwell became the pioneer for the preservation of the life of bears worldwide. He will be remembered forever for his contribution in the preservation of bears and their habitat.

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