‘Grizzly Man’ Downplays Dangers, Ranger Says

A recently released documentary film of Timothy Treadwell, a Malibu man who gained notoriety for living and dying among Alaska’s grizzly bears, has many worried that the compelling close-up footage of the animals could inspire other misguided adventure-seekers to emulate him.

“Grizzly Man,” directed and narrated by Werner Herzog, relies on choice scenes from more than 100 hours of raw footage shot by Treadwell while he lived among the bears at Katmai National Park and Preserve on the Alaska Peninsula.

Treadwell, 46, and his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, 37, also of Malibu were mauled and eaten in October 2003 by a bear at their campsite, which lay at the confluence of several heavily used bear trails.

“Everything Timothy was doing was wrong, as far as behaving responsibly around wildlife,” said Mike Lapinski, who wrote “Death in the Grizzly Maze,” one of several books that have been written about Treadwell since his death.

Lapinski called the film “beautiful,” but said he wished Herzog had put more emphasis on the dangers of approaching grizzlies.

Missy Epping, wilderness district ranger at Katmai, had not seen the final version of the film, but said she was disappointed when she viewed sequences of him touching the bears.

“These are wild animals and we have to remember that,” Epping said.

“They are not teddy bears,” she added.