Timothy Treadwell became world-famous overnight — but for a tragic reason. In 2003, he and his girlfriend Amie Huguenard set out for Katmai National Park in Alaska.
What was meant to be another close encounter with the grizzlies he adored instead became their final journey, captured in a chilling audio recording of the moments before they were killed by a brown bear
Ended in horror
Timothy Treadwell was born in Mineola, Long Island, New York, and showed a love for animals from an early age. But it wasn’t until a close friend convinced him to travel to Alaska that his fascination with bears truly began.
In his memoir Among Grizzlies: Living with Wild Bears in Alaska, Treadwell revealed how his mission to protect the animals was born in the late 1980s, shortly after he survived a near-fatal heroin overdose. He credited his recovery to his encounters with wild bears, writing that from the moment he first saw one in the wild, he knew his destiny was tied to theirs.
Over the years, Treadwell — who became known worldwide as the self-styled “Grizzly Man” — spent 13 summers living among Alaska’s brown bears. But in October 2003, the passion that defined his life ended in tragedy when he and his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, were fatally attacked at Katmai National Park.
Final cries
Treadwell frequently filmed his interactions with the bears, and investigators later confirmed that an audio recording captured the couple’s final moments. The six-minute tape begins begins with Treadwell shouting that he is under attack, crying out, “Come out here; I’m being killed out here.”
According to Alaska wildlife biologist Larry Van Daele, the recording captures Treadwell screaming for help as Huguenard rushes to unzip their tent. She pleads with him to “play dead,” and the bear briefly retreats, only to return minutes later.
Treadwell can be heard begging her to hit the animal, while she screams for him to fight back. The recording ends with his voice fading away, her screams continuing in the darkness.