![]() In his book, though, he claimed that he was always careful with the bears and actually developed a sense of mutual trust and respect with the animals. Treadwell was known for getting extremely close to the bears he observed, sometimes even touching them and playing with bear cubs. He called the area the "Grizzly Sanctuary". Treadwell spent the early part of each season camping on the ‘Big Green’, an open area of bear grass in Hallo Bay on the Katmai Coast. He claims in his book that his drug addiction grew from his alcoholism and attributed his recovery from drug and alcohol addictions entirely to his relationship with bears. According to his book, Among Grizzlies: Living with Wild Bears in Alaska, his mission to protect bears began in the late 1980s after he had survived a near-fatal heroin overdose. Treadwell studied the bears during summer seasons for 13 years before being killed by one of them. He wrote that after his first encounter with a wild bear he knew he had found his calling in life and that now his destiny was entwined with those of the bears. ![]() Ī lover of animals since he was a child, Treadwell decided to travel to Alaska to watch bears after a close friend persuaded him to do so. In 1987, he legally changed his surname from Dexter to Treadwell, a name from his mother's family that he had used informally for some years. According to this account, his father said Timothy "spiraled down" and became an alcoholic after he lost the role of Woody Boyd to Woody Harrelson in the sitcom Cheers. There, he claimed to be a British orphan and on other occasions claimed that he was from Australia. He attended Bradley University on a swimming & diving scholarship. In an interview in Grizzly Man (2005), his parents say he was an ordinary young man until he went away to college. He was very fond of animals and kept a squirrel named Willie as a pet. He attended Connetquot High School, where he was the swimming team's star diver. Treadwell was born in Mineola, Long Island, New York, one of five children of Val Dexter and Carol Ann (née Bartell). Treadwell's life, work, and death were the subject of Werner Herzog's critically acclaimed documentary film Grizzly Man (2005). On October 5, 2003, Treadwell and his girlfriend Amie Huguenard were killed and almost fully eaten by a 28-year-old male bear, named "The Machine", whose stomach was later found to contain human remains and clothing. ![]() He lived among coastal brown bears (or grizzlies, Ursus arctos) in Katmai National Park, Alaska, for 13 summers. Timothy Treadwell (born Timothy William Dexter Ap– October 5, 2003) was an American bear enthusiast, environmentalist, documentary filmmaker, and founder of the bear-protection organization Grizzly People. ![]()
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