How Amie Huguenard Met “Grizzly Man” Timothy Treadwell
Lionsgate Films Timothy Treadwell gained widespread fame and notoriety for his interactions with grizzly bears, appearing on nationally syndicated talk shows and in schools as a bear advocate.
Amie Lynn Huguenard was born in Buffalo, New York, on October 23, 1965. She developed an interest in science and medicine and was also fascinated by the outdoors, spending much of her spare time hiking and climbing while working as a doctor’s assistant in Colorado.
It was during this period in 1997 that she read a book, Among Grizzlies, whose author claimed to have found solace from drug addiction in the company of Alaska’s brown bears. The writer’s name was Timothy Treadwell.
Soon, Amie Huguenard reached out to Treadwell, thus beginning a relationship which would last for nearly six years. It wasn’t long before she was flying up to Alaska to spend portions of the summers with him among the grizzlies of Katmai National Park.
During her annual trips north with Treadwell, Huguenard proved to be a capable companion. Her hiking and survival skills prepared her well for Katmai, over 12,000 square miles of wilderness home to more than 2,000 brown bears.
And in January 2003, she moved to live with him in Malibu, California, taking a position as a physician’s assistant at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Learning To Love The Grizzly Bears At Katmai National Park
Wikimedia Commons Grizzly Bears feeding at Brooks Falls in Alaska’s Katmai National Park.
At first, Amie Huguenard was wary of the apex predators, which can weigh up to 1,000 pounds. But Treadwell had charm and a passion for the bears that assuaged her fear. He even once told David Letterman that they were nothing but “party animals.”
And during their summer visits, the bears were largely docile, spending much of their days resting and feeding, helping Huguenard to feel safe around them. Although she and Treadwell were anything but.
“Amie had a kind of naïveté about her that added a real sweetness to her entire persona. At times it was easy to convince her of things that were not entirely true,” Stephen Bunch, one of Amie’s old boyfriends, wrote after her death.
“But I always felt I could trust her because she bestowed the same trust in you unconditionally.”
Still, Amie Huguenard also witnessed Treadwell’s confrontations with the National Park Service. Park rangers were concerned that Treadwell was placing himself and others in danger by approaching the bears so closely and that he was maintaining dangerous camping practices on his quest to stop poachers.
Huguenard and Treadwell were sinking deeper into some critical mistakes. Crucially, and contrary to generations of Alaskan received wisdom and wildlife expertise, Amie Huguenard and Timothy Treadwell believed that the grizzlies were becoming “[their] animals.”
“Tim would honestly die if it meant these animals could live,” Huguenard wrote.
Timothy incluso grabó videos de él jugando con las crías de los osos
Timothy y su novia lograron fotografiarse jugando con las crías de los osos.
Timothy consideraba a los osos como sus amigos y, según él, sabía perfectamente cómo confrontarlos para que no lo atacaran.
Consejos para protegerse de compañeros de trabajo tóxicos
Una vez disipado el peligro se acercaron a las carpas, estaban destrozadas. Pocos metros más adelante, la cabeza de Timothy todavía estaba unida a un pedazo de su columna vertebral.
Los restos humanos fueron puestos en bolsas de plástico y enviados a los peritos, al igual que el oso. Al animal le realizaron una necropsia y constataron que dentro de su estómago había restos humanos y ropa desgarrada.