And call me.. It was difficult to see, so Fulton had to return to the plane to flash his lights. Then the bear disappeared. Because grizzlies seem to have some sort of sixth sensebear sense, as its calledthey tend to be on high alert in October; in fact, several years ago two bear attacks occurred this time of year. Even those who had long predicted Treadwells death granted him this: he was a believer, who walked the walk. In my mind, I became a grizzly, he wrote. (When not in Alaska, his daily breakfast consisted of raw vegetables, bread, candy corn, and Coke.) The last sounds more benign than it is, for the simple reason that the chargee never thinks, Oh, hes just bluffing. Running a 104-degree temperature and hallucinating wildly, Treadwell phoned Huguenard and Palovak, neither of whom was in Alaska. Kaflia Bay was surrounded by a mountainous jungleland devoid of flat, open spaces. He died on October. He was a naturalist, an activist, a writer, and a photographernot to mention a recovering addict, a Peter Pan, and a fabulist. Like heaven, she later told friends. He looked like he might be the areas oldest grizzly. Treadwell had that effect on people. Their refusal wasnt out of malice specifically to Herzogs project, though. Timothy Treadwell had spent the past 13 summers living with the bears of Katmai National Park and had documented upwards of 100 hours of footage over the said period. Tims not [a family] guy, she told a friend. Finally, loping up to Sims in that surfer-dude way of his, Treadwell introduced himself. That said, one cant help but hear the obvious: by the end, the sounds of man, woman, and bear were one and the same. For more information, please see our Jesus! Treadwell cried, leading Bennett out. Inside the Cessna, one of the rangers glimpsed the bear atop a hill. Good Demon., Just after dawn on August 21, Treadwell awakened to the sound of bears. And he especially loved women, who frequently loved him back. By the late 1990s he was somewhat of a celebrity, having attracted People magazine, David Letterman and celebrity backers such as Pierce Brosnan and Leonardo DiCaprio. What is assumed to be a very convincing fake of the first two minutes did show up online in the years following the incident and is believed by some to be genuine. But a few large males showed no love at all, among them a nasty old bear whose photo had been shown by Letterman. Moving fast, he turned and headed back. Either way, he always ended up pissed off and heading back to bears, who never disappointed, never judged, never tried to change him. Here he was alone but never lonely, didnt even know what loneliness was. Sims began packing lunches for Treadwell, who normally subsisted on power bars, peanut butter, and Coke; his wildlife skills were, in the early going, rudimentary. The next day, Treadwell phoned Palovak and had her call the airline. Treadwell amassed more than 12 years worth of field research, and some of the same scientists who ridiculed him have jockeyed for his research. Together they nested in a dense thicket of alders, near some of the age-old bear trails that crisscross Kaflia. Goofy. That was Wanetta Ayerss first impression of Treadwell the day he materialized in front of her desk at the Kodiak visitors bureau. Grizzly bears normally do not kill and attack human beings. They looked at Treadwell the way dogs and cats looked at their keepers, as if trying to communicate something. Bear! he yelled. There they found one of the flattened tents unzipped and facing a five-foot-by-four-foot pile of dirt, grass, leaves, and sticks. Both reservations were to Los Angeles. Hence its nickname, the Pumpkin. Timothy Treadwell (the Grizzly Man) was once interviewed by David Letterman, who joked that he would be eaten by a bear. [3], Timothy Treadwell (lost death audio of grizzly bear attack; 2003), Lost advertising and interstitial material. Take a shot if you have one! Ellis yelled. His friends thought he was safe with the bears, too. While it remained possible that the smaller bear (or a third bear) had initiated the attack, only to have his prey stolen by a bigger bear, logic and circumstance suggested differently. He moved slowly. During the production of said documentary, Herzog was granted access to the audio by Jewel Palovak (Treadwell's ex-girlfriend, who had been given the tape by authorities, along with various other possessions of his), with Herzog's reaction shown on screen (the audio itself was, of course, not included). Of the estimated 32,000 grizzlies left in the United States, around 31,000 live in Alaska, where they are, in more ways than one, larger than life. After kills, grizzlies commonly conceal their food in a cache like this one, and evidently the bear had been defending his. People are also reading Were having burgers.. Most notably, he produced and starred in a Discovery Channel special, The Grizzly Diaries. And, in a further sign that he trusts me, he has actually turned his back to me.. Although Gilbert hadnt lived the grizzly lifehe was a professor at Utah State Universityhis was rare expertise. But he now faces the very real possibility of being canceled. He released an hour-long edit of footage that Herzog saw during production but kept almost all of the footage within his circle of friends. Two state troopers arrived, and some of the group conducted a perimeter search. Working a series of bartending jobs in and around Santa Monica, he would scrape together just enough money to finance his Alaskan summers. That it was a line didnt make it untrue. Neither was Alaskan, except in their minds, which had become tuned to that strange frequency that pulls a rare few into the deep wilderness, and ever closer to the line separating humans and animals. Sims offered him fresh halibut to cook at his camp. He is known for Late Show with David Letterman (1993). We couldve took a shit out the window., Hollywood returned the love. Working as Treadwells co-author, Palovak helped focus his boundless enthusiasm, and, in 1997, Among Grizzlies was published to modest sales and reviews. Anyone who says nature is the fountain of youth hasnt lived in the wilds of southwestern Alaska, where winters test even those genetically adapted to endure themfrom the indigenous peoples, the Alutiiq, to the caribou and the killer whales, the moose and the wolves, the seals and the sea lions. At which point the alders shook harder and Treadwells voice became a shriek. For centuries, local tribes saw them as gods or shamans. The fog hovered low; the afternoon was raw and wet, in the low 40s. Werner Herzog listening to the tape in Grizzly Man. For some reason, Treadwells video camera taped the first six minutes of his attack (on audio only, since the camera was packed in a bag, with its lens cap on). "And he said, 'I'm kind of directing it. Popping over the Secret Trail I could see several bears. If the facts indicated otherwiseand they didanswers remained elusive. Pretending she was Huguenard, she made sure their seats were together. After a while, Treadwell had had enough. Primatologist Dian Fossey, likely killed by gorilla poachers. After attending one of Treadwells lectures, Huguenard couldnt get him out of her head. ! Treadwell dithered, pulling away, then crept back closer, then away again; in romance, as in life, he ran hot and cold, with a tendency toward the dramatic. Treadwell contemplated the Downey situation and the forecast, which called for heavy rain, which meant fuller creeks, which meant he needed to call Palovak to reschedule their departure. Thats when he saw them, lurking low and quiet in the alders. Oh, this is for the dog, he said. Two of the rangers, Allen Gilliland and Derek Dalrymple, carried 12-gauge shotguns; the third, Joel Ellis, a .40-caliber handgun. The Late Show With David Letterman pulled in high ratings for CBS and played host to the biggest names in showbiz. Actually, he wanted to leave more than she did. Treadwell is a very complex character full of doubts and self-aggrandization. If a grizzly attacked, the plan was simple. Inside the tent, Huguenard heard the commotion, which lasted longer than it typically did. Timothy Treadwell was born on April 29, 1957 in Long Island, New York, USA. Squatting like fat old men, the grizzlies just waited for red sockeyes to bounce off their chests and rocket into their mouths. At the airport, Treadwell discovered that their tickets cost more than expected. When they attack, which they hardly ever do, its because you surprised them or fed themfear or food.. I persevere." So speaks Timothy Treadwell, balanced somewhere between the grandiose and the manic in Werner Herzog's "Grizzly Man." He is talking about the wild bears he came to know and love. Or not. Hell hate that.. Bear! Gilliland yelled, pointing to his right, where the grizzly had appeared out of nowhere, five yards from Ellis. If I dont come backhed grinthis is what I love doing.. Treadwell responded that he wouldn't be killed by a bear, echoing an ironic sentiment at the beginning of the doc where he claims theres no real danger of that happening. Essentially a fishing villageone stoplight, a few dozen businesses, a big blue Russian Orthodox churchKodiak looks either glorious or gray, depending on the weather, which is surprisingly mild (similar to Vancouvers) but profoundly foggy, windy, and wet (like Glasgows). Last year he happened upon a man-made wooden structure resembling a football goalpost. A short sunny streak is still on the horizon, Treadwell wrote in his journal on July 25, 2003, having just returned to the Maze, alone. The thing that Ido is live as much like an animal as I can, Treadwell said, half joking. . Because he disliked carstoo claustrophobiche rode a motorcycle, a Honda Magna he called the Big Red Machine., His bear-centricity was obsessive but not monomaniacal. Where others would have seen a bear being a bearif confronted, grizzlies will sometimes bluff-charge humans, and almost always fleeTreadwell saw something deeper, a mutual recognition that transcended conventional assumptions about interspecies communication. Meanwhile, the Park Service was enforcing a seven-day rule, which required campers to relocate every week. Code name: the Grizzly Maze., Kaflia bears often got ornery, snorting and growling and bluff-charging. They were his soul mates, his salvation, and his cause. I never got laid like this until I started talking about bears., But it never seemed to work out. The noise was intentional, since the last thing they wanted was a surprised bear. In June, when Treadwell would typically arrive, the sky stays blue until midnight. Herzog started with 100-plus hours of footage Treadwell shot of his time in the park. Huguenard had a large issue with small spiders, which skittered all over the Maze: wolf spiders, crab spiders, orb-web spiders. Near the end of the clip, Letterman asks Treadwell if there's ever going to be a day when they hear about him getting mauled and killed by a bear. The book proved a welcome antidote to a burgeoning publishing subgenre: bear-attack books, which popularized and fetishized ursine horror: Killer Bears, Attack of the Killer Grizzly, Bear Attacks: The Deadly Truth. Shortly thereafter the bear came at him again, tearing into him with one-and-a-half-inch teeth and four-inch claws, and battering him with skillet-size paws. At noon the next day, the weather remained grim. She successfully held him offOr more likely Demon just let her be. The author knocks on the doors bearing the darkest symbols, behind which lie guns, ammo, antisemitism, antiabortion dogmaand a belief in the coming civil war. Tim Dexter died in Long Beach, California, amid a cloud of drugs, guns, and brawling. Man, Martyr, Myth. Other tribes called bears grandfather, cousin, or four-legged humans, according to Giving Voice to Bear, a 1991 book by David Rockwell. Like all bear stories, Treadwells got better with each telling. By the time the Cessna arrived, at 4:26, Fulton had spent nearly three hours in and above the Maze, periodically glimpsing the bear. I dont have a good shot! Gilliland replied. The documentary features interviews with Treadwells friends, but Huguenards family is noticeably missing. When she and Treadwell were around other people, he did the talking. Pull up, back away, or do nothing. Otherwise, Kaflia was an impenetrable alder thicket. He radioed a dispatcher, who contacted a nearby ranger station, about 90 miles away in tiny King Salmon. The whole grizzly-guy thing was catnip to women. Love. There was even a kind of second-gunman theory, which held that the larger bear had been a patsy, taking the fall for the smaller assassin in the grassy knoll. I felt a great deal of paranoia, and rightfully so. Some 500 yards away, the creek was loaded with bears and trouble. Timothy Treadwell was born on April 29, 1957 in Long Island, New York, USA. The silly names and the singsong voice were meant for bears and kids: And we dont feed them, because a fed bear is a , The kid thing, like the bear thing, had an effect on the ladies, including Huguenard, who was now in her mid-30s. Russell and Peacock had spent decades living with and defending grizzlies, and all three recommended tough love: use bear fences. The grizzly fled. The encounter was like looking into a mirror, Treadwell recounted. The bear reappeared, paused briefly, stalking them in a quartering positiona posture they assume when faced with a threat. Kodiak Island looks like the love child of Ireland and Hawaii, especially in summertime, when sunshine makes the greens greenergreen mountains, green fjordsand the North Pacific bluer. Inevitably for people who love animals, thats the million-dollar word. He died on October 5, 2003 in Katmai National Park, Alaska, USA. The grizzly is half human, thought the Tlingit tribesmen. There were two with strikingly similar features: both adults, both weather-beaten, both golden. One of the osteopaths she worked with, Dr. Phillip Stahl, knew he could always get a rise out of her by joking about protected lands or baby seals. By then, the grizzlies were long gone, having left behind only one pile of small bear bones and a second pile of bigger bones. fan, and a closet MTV fan. At worst hes dangerous. In private, she implored Treadwell to be safe, according to the Anchorage Daily News, adding, My staff will never forgive you if they have to kill a bear because of you.. By 1999, Fulton was Treadwells main pilot and confederate. Until then, Ill keep living it.. One day Ill show this work to the public. Its my bear work theyre attracted to. You are the most beautiful thing, he said, and turned back to the camera. I should have been doing this a long time ago, Treadwell said after moving into an alder patch. Here are 10 things you might not know about Grizzly Man, which was co-shot by its subject. Im getting killed!. Slowly, she looked back at Treadwell with an expression that read, Were O.K., right? Pitbull is a pal, Carbone is for dinner, and. Not a bear in sight. Treadwell shook off the comment and denied the likelihood of such an event. With another client, Fulton probably wouldnt have flown. But especially the bears. After the couples ghastly deathsthe first fatal maulings in the history of Katmai National Parkcriticism was aimed squarely at Treadwell, a charismatic bear enthusiast who for years had been the Kodiaks defender and goodwill ambassador, albeit a self-appointed one. All by making an instant choice. He made sure Huguenard gave the males wide berths, which usually wasnt difficult, since neither bear wanted anything to do with them. Soon everyone would be gone for the [#image: /photos/54cbf812998d4de83ba39db4]year, even the grizzlies. Everything about Kaflia was rough, including its only regular visitors, grizzlies, who had not been habituated to humans. Nature, he said. It was a worship born of fear, since grizzlies are the worlds largest terrestrial predators, dominating the food chain with their power and size, speed and cunning. The Indians give a very formidable account of the strength and ferocity of this anamal [sic], which they never dare to attack but in parties of six eight or ten persons, Lewis wrote in 1805, when up to 100,000 grizzlies roamed the North American wilderness. He says no. Corporate sponsorsPatagonia, Konica Minoltaalso chipped in. Theyre very important, she would reply. Treadwell denies this. He waved his arms, shook the alders, and made himself bigger. Thank you so much for risking everything and coming out and helping us that day. Normally the water was so clear he could see straight to the rocky riverbed. To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. His dreams were escapist, typically involving interspecies transference in which he bore claws, fangs, or wings that transported him far from Ronkonkoma, on Long Island, where he was the third of five siblings (also unnamed), and where he coveted a teddy bear named Mr. Goodbear. He approached them cautiously. Except he wasnt. His favorite was Downey, a fluffy young female who was to the Maze as Booble was to the Big Green. He later wrote, These literally three-pound wormy animals were kicking my ass. He burst out into the Alaskan night, chasing weasels with a stick. Nearly 10 years ago, Werner Herzog returned to nonfiction with a streak of documentaries focused on Tibetan Buddhism, aviation, the oldest art known to man, and people living in unique extremes. Now, it seemed, the male had taken a mate, a small, pretty female. Crouched in low ready positions, they climbed the hill. Pieced together from Timothy Treadwell's actual video footage, Werner Herzog's remarkable documentary examines the calling that drove Treadwell to live among. Grizzly People published a photo of a bear poacher in action. But the man was actually a bear-viewing guide, and Treadwell had to apologize. The Big Red Machine, Treadwell named him (after one of his motorcycles). Behind me is Ed and Rowdy, members of an up-and-coming sub-adult gang. Circling low over the campsite15 times, 20 timesFulton couldnt scare off the bear and couldnt locate the couple. Moments later, in all likelihood, Huguenard watched helplessly as Treadwell lay pinned on his back, staring up at the Big Red Machine. That was 40,000 years ago, before the Bering Sea covered the bridge, and brown bears the continent. Landing there required Willy Fulton, a 42-year-old ex-cowboy with a thick mustache, a taste for Pink Floyd, and 6,000 flights under his belt. Every adventurer has his epiphany, and Treadwells occurred in the biggest state, whose dangerous frontier beauty had always lured adventurers and escapists, among them Chris McCandless, the doomed young soul who died trying to live off the wilderness (and who was immortalized in Jon Krakauers Into the Wild). The sky was gray; the landscape, ghostly. Some were trophy hunters, others profiteers who carved out the bears gallbladders and smuggled them to Asia, where they were peddled as aphrodisiacs. Unzipping the tent, screaming as loudly as Treadwell, Huguenard confronted a massive blur of limbs, fur, and violence. It was October in Alaska, and he was a bear. At 3:20 p.m., carrying three armed rangers, a white-and-yellow Cessna 206 float plane headed into swirling rain, dense fog, and fading daylight. Though practically half his size, Huguenard hauled as much gear as he did; she hiked farther, faster, and higher. We shook hands and I made it.". By one theory, man and bear arrived in Alaska together, more or less, crossing a massive land bridge that once connected Asia and North America. Forty-two hours after the shootings, the weather cleared enough for investigators to land in Kaflia and slice open the Machine, whose belly revealed human remains, and whose markings revealed his past: hed been tagged after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. In his goofy way, hed smile and say, How would you like it if I was talking about murdering one of your relatives? Alaskans didnt know whether to laugh or kick his ass. Treadwell was a diving champion in high school and had also received a swimming scholarship for college education. On September 29, they were back in the Pumpkin, heading out for one last week in the Maze. Shes my girlfriend. (Bill Sims was busy running a lodge up north.) He was arrested twice (for assault and for illegally firing a gun). When grizzlies werent bumping into his tents, storms were knocking them over; sometimes he stayed up all night, out in the wind and rain, holding on to his tent. He is known for Late Show with David Letterman (1993). The Machine lay exactly where he had died, untouched by bears. He got a bad feeling and wanted the trusty 12-gauge shotgun he usually kept in the Pumpkin. Be safe. He filmed a segment of Paramount Televisions Wild Things series, and was technical adviser on Brother Bear, an animated Disney movie. What we do know is that Mr. Treadwell was not acting like most people do around bears, and consequently wasnt treated like most people.. A subreddit dedicated to all those things in media and elsewhere that didnt stand the test of time, at all. The Machine wouldnt quit, thundering right up to the plane. Many stories have surfaced of his inappropriate behavior, both on and off screen. The members of some tribes wouldnt look a bear in the eyes; others wouldnt even say bear. And most agreed that the one thing more dangerous than a pissed-off bear was a pissed-off bear that smelled blood, specifically menstrual, specifically a girls first. She fought him, appearing about one third his immense size. Its not if you will come across the bears in these paths. 2023 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved. His coat was mangy, and his rib cage protruded. Timothy Treadwell, known as "Grizzly Man", goes on David Letterman to tell his tales about living amongst Brown Bears. Actually, the difference was perfectly clear to bears; it was the slow-witted Homo sapiens who took centuries to fathom and mimic the bears simplest skills: hunting, fishing, foraging, spelunking. Timothy Treadwell was born on April 29, 1957 in Long Island, New York, USA. They heard bears before they saw them, crunching along the trails and tunnels, huffing and thumping through the brush. In Kaflia, Treadwell contracted giardiasis, an intestinal parasite often called beaver fever, owing to one of its sourceswater contaminated by beaver fecal matter. Silly advice born out of the immediate shock of hearingI mean, its the most terrifying thing Ive ever heard in my life. Palovak placed it in a bank vault instead. Outside the tent, one of the bears wouldnt knock it off. He stood upright, inhaling the cold air, eyes straining to see. Even the biggest males brushed against Treadwell, sniffing his camera. Because bear hunters were prohibited and bear viewers welcome, most of the grizzlies, having been habituated to civilization, treated humans with equanimity, even curiosity. She was tinyfive feet zero, 100 poundsand seemed shy. The most infamous time grizzlies preyed on humans was August 13, 1967, in Montanas Glacier National Parkthe Night of the Grizzlies, when, in separate incidents, bears killed two young women. Slowing, the bear absorbed 8 rounds, then 12, then 15. Treadwell also battled poachers, if largely those of his imagination. Which Fulton couldnt. Is it still out there? He bumped the tent and shook the alders, and he was right there. Ultimately, it was Huguenard who initiated the recording of Treadwell's final moments (forgetting to remove the lens cap in her haste), after Treadwell presumably prompted her to turn the camera on upon noticing the approaching bear. It was just their dumb luck that he never seemed to have a camera during these encounters. Too bad youre not here. Although I do not officially recognize the mother bear, Treadwell noted, she seemed to know me. Then: Demon exploded onto her. While investigating facts about Timothy Treadwell Audio and Timothy Treadwell Autopsy, I found out little known, but curios details like:. What do you think? Late September brought crueler weather, which therefore lured more weasels and spiders to Kaflias only dry place: the campsite. The Red Machine is from the old days, the old days of when bears came here and the sight, the smell of a person meant poacher, meant death. How can I communicate to him that I am friend and all the rest are foe?. Given Treadwells issues, one could chalk up his Big Moment as a classic case of Freudian projection: Bereft White Male, 32, seeks salvation, love, family. Three or four times a year, he shuttled Treadwell between Kodiak and Kaflia, which was roughly 15 miles northeast of the Big Green. Scanning the hillside, they saw nothing and heard nothing. This might seem crazy, but when I was young I used to pretend I was a grizzly.. As usual, he landed in the water, then idled toward the craggy beach. As Fultons throat tightened and his limbs went numb, the bear moved away, along a coastal trail, eyes locked on the Pumpkin, as if daring Fulton to come out. ! they yelled over and over. Sims found him interesting, in a loopy sort of way. And there was Treadwell, crouched in the grass, talking to bears in his soft singsong voice: Hey there, little bear. He gave them cute namesCupcake, Mr. Chocolate, Ms. Goodbearand spent much of his time with Booble, a female whose golden fur matched her disposition. And there was Downey, fishing and flopping and camera hogging. He just didnt discuss his background. Theyve only got one thing in mind, and thats to get as much food in their bellies during summer because theyve got a long winter ahead. The earliest prehistoric cave drawings portrayed dancing bears and devil bears, god bears and man bears. A female dared to fish near him in order to feed her undernourished cubs. Inside their carefully constructed habitat, the golden pair stirred. If you get crippled for life, you carry about you a patent of courage which may be useful in case you go into politics, explained one hunter about the mystique of his avocation. The Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin, feeding the man-eaters while holding his baby. Hill also revealed that the recording abruptly cuts out, due to the end of the tape being reached, suggesting that it otherwise probably would have captured the whole thing.[1]. One night, she found Treadwell grilling a thick ahi tuna. The harder Treadwell fought, the louder the bear raged, taking dead aim at Treadwells head (as attacking grizzlies typically do). She was lean, fit, and windswept, as if born in Levis and fleece. Holding salmon like hot dogs, they ate only the fatty parts, discarded the remains, and then grabbed more fish. The alders were grizzly brown, making it even harder to see the bears. Treadwell went everywhere Booble did, including the rivers where grizzlies spent late August, feasting on the salmon runs. When the bear moved on them, Ellis and Hill opened fire. The German auteur was in the office of Erik Nelson, who produces projects for National Geographic and Discovery, hunting through his pockets and a bunch of papers on Nelsons table for his reading glasses when an article about Timothy Treadwell caught his eye. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. Goes with the territory. In the Maze, Huguenard felt fear only when she was out there alone. On 6 October 2003 it was . Grizzlies are misunderstood, Treadwell would say. Photographers Barbara Tyack (mauled in Kenya by a baboon), Bruno Zehnder (frozen to death in Antarctica among penguins), Michio Hoshino (killed in Siberia by a grizzly), and Peter Beard (trampled by an elephant in 1996). Sometimes he claimed membership in an old Aussie clan, the Treadwells; other times he claimed to have grown up as a poor English orphan. "So I read it and immediately hurried back to his office, and I asked, 'Who is directing it?,'" Herzog told NPR. So Fulton took off while he still could, disappearing into the thick storm clouds that shrouded his 50-minute flight to the Maze. At various times, both the Machine and Demon had qualified as the dreaded 25th Grizzly, Treadwell felt. Bummer! He lived with cokeheads and dealers, slept with a loaded M16, and nearly overdosed on a speedball of cocaine and heroin. Men have always told bear stories. The only part of the documentary that was replaced or edited out was a segment of Late Show with David Letterman where the host pointed out the obvious: the risk Treadwell was taking. He is who he is., Her faith paid off in the strangest ways. That bears were comfortable around Treadwell was indisputable. Youre gonna think Im crazy, he told her. In the closing moments of Grizzly Man, Werner Herzog considers some of the last footage shot by Timothy Treadwell before a hungry bear mauled Treadwell and his girlfriend to death in Alaska's Katmai National Park on October 5, 2003.The bear in the footage, Herzog observes, could very well be Treadwell's killer: It's an old, desperate creature looking for food after the last of the summer .