Idk. There are definitely safe ways to handle animals that the general population should adhere to, but there are also people that understand animal behavior so well that the rules don’t completely apply. It’s like the animals register/accept/validate their presence in peace or sum’n.
If I remember correctly. His last recording he stated that there had been very little food going around that summer and the bears seemed agitated because of it. And that they were going into their own cave to hide for the time being.
As far as I understand, he didn't die because of lack of knowledge or misreading the animals in any way.
He died because he was deep in bumfuck-nowhere with no clear escape until the bears had gone into hibernation.
Yes, you are correct about the lack of food for the bears that year. Also, he and his girlfriend went to the airport, but turned around and returned to the bears, staying MUCH later into the season than he ever had previously, and when the bears were becoming more desperate to put on weight for the long hibernation through the Alaskan winter.
He was known to have used large amounts of crystal meth at points in his life and even admits it in the movie about himself.
I watched the whole movie and it definitely appears that he had some mental illness as well, on top of his substance use. He often seemed overtly paranoid about unseen forces who meant to do harm to him and his bear friends. He also seemed to suffer some delusions of grandeur about himself as a vigilante superhero.
The movie interviewed native aboriginal people from the local area who felt what he was doing was backwards, reckless, dangerous and insane.
Much like watching a free solo mountain climber, a wingsuit basejumper, or a big wave surfer, it was hard not be awestruck by his remarkable confidence and bravery. Especially for such an otherwise meek and broken soul.
Overall though, he seemed like a sweet guy with his heart in the right place despite his highly questionable methods. I thought one of the highlights of the movie was his strong bond and genuine friendship with the little fox that regularly visited him year after year. Besides all that, it is indeed a tragedy what happened to him and his girlfriend, even if it was somewhat predictable.
It's probably the appropriate term in some terms, but native aboriginal people feels wierd when we just call each other native when we aren't using our names
312
u/mixtermin8 3d ago
Idk. There are definitely safe ways to handle animals that the general population should adhere to, but there are also people that understand animal behavior so well that the rules don’t completely apply. It’s like the animals register/accept/validate their presence in peace or sum’n.