Don't Trust a Giant Testosterone-Pumped Animal

I've seen "Grizzly Man" several times being that Herzog is one of my favorite director's and well... Timothy Treadwell is just the perfect idiot- well intentioned but entirely misguided. Of course, I do think Herzog frames him as the misguided idiot who consistently crosses the line with nature- in believing that nature is inherently "good" or peaceful. It is clear from the footage that Treadwell DID have a certain relationship with the bears (and the fox family)- whether this was just a passive "putting up with" Treadwill or a shared understanding/respect that was in effect until one of the bears snapped, one cannot say (he did spend quite a long time with the bears before his death, which is pretty incredible). It is rather presumptuous to assume that the bears will want to entertain your experiment, however. While these bears may not have had actual previous trauma with humans/poachers, they are wired to self-preserve and, being capable, will kill to protect themselves. Maybe Treadwill needed a lesson from Annie Dillard. Yes, nature is inspiring and beautiful and we can commune and speak to it, but there is also a darker side... it will suck your blood out from your underside when you least expect it. It's hard not to project on to animals since they can't speak and I for one am guilty of believing that I have some sort of psychic communication with my pets. I was told about this research the other day on psychic communication between a dog and its owner. You know how dogs always seem to know when their owners are coming home and are waiting at the door? Well, some research group did a study with a woman and her dog- she would be paged and told to come home at random time of the day (and she would take a taxi so the dog couldn't possibly recognize the familiar sound of her car) and within seconds of her receiving the page, the dog (who was being documented by multiple, time-coded security cameras), would run and sit in front of the door, awaiting her arrival! All this to say- I DO believe in the possibility of this psychic relationship, but that the same time, I believe nature is at its core unpredictable-- CHAOS! Oh yah, and it's a bad idea to trust a giant testosterone-pumped animal. And, if animals are excellent judges of character, and Treadwill was PRETTY IRRITATING at heart, well... it was coming to him.