Bear mauling recorded on tape

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- The graphic sounds of a deadly bear attack in the Alaska wilderness were captured on tape, revealing a wildlife author's final, frantic screams as he tried to fend off the beast, authorities said Wednesday.

Trooper Chris Hill said the tape suggests a video camera was turned on just before Timothy Treadwell was attacked at his campsite. His girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, was later mauled to death by a bear. The recording is audio only, and the screen is blank for all six minutes.

"They're both screaming, she's telling him to play dead, then it changes to fighting back. He asks her to hit the bear," Hill said. "There's so much noise going on. I don't know what's him and what might be an animal.

"It's pretty disturbing. I keep hearing it in my mind."

The remains of Treadwell, 46, and Huguenard, 37, both of Malibu, Calif., were found Monday at Katmai National Park and Preserve on the Alaska Peninsula. Treadwell was known for approaching, even touching, bears in the wild.

An air taxi pilot who arrived to pick up the couple contacted the National Park Service and troopers to report a brown bear was apparently sitting on top of human remains in the camp.

A ranger shot and killed a large brown bear when the animal charged at them through the dense brush. Troopers and rangers later killed a smaller bear apparently stalking them.

Hill said he was stunned by what he heard on the tape.

"The audio starts while he's being mauled and ends while he's being mauled," Hill said.

Treadwell may have heard a bear and asked Huguenard to turn on the camera, which was found with the lens cap on and packed in a camera bag, Hill said.

"At first, she sounds kind of surprised and asks if it's still out there. I'm not sure if she was asking if a bear was outside their tent or in the brush," Hill said. "The audio stops because the tape runs out. Otherwise, it probably would have captured the whole thing."

Hill said he will attempt to transcribe the tape. But there are no plans to make the recording or transcripts public, trooper spokesman Greg Wilkinson said.

Troopers recovered video and still photography equipment as well as three hours of earlier video footage from the site, across Shelikof Strait from Kodiak Island.

Much of the footage is close-up shots of bears. Some scenes show bears no more than a few feet from Treadwell, co-author of "Among Grizzlies: Living With Wild Bears in Alaska." Others show a more timid Huguenard leaning away as bears come close to her on the bank of a river.

Rebecca Dmytryk, who oversees an animal rescue organization in Malibu, recalled other video footage of Treadwell before his death that showed him in a streambed near an older bear he nicknamed "Quincy."

"Quincy, do you remember when you stood over me? You were so hungry, and you should have eaten me, but you didn't. Thanks for not eating me, Quincy," Dmytryk recalled him saying to the bear in the clip. "If Quincy had eaten me, good, 'cause he's a nice bear."

Treadwell's family was in shock over the death.

"I was dumbfounded, ready to fall through the floor," said his father, Valentin Dexter, who lives in Pompano Beach, Fla.