I believe Timothy to be a truly tragic character. Despite the fact that some of the scenes in Grizzly Man were comic, Timothy was a troubled man with a skewed vision of the world.
His goal to protect the bears and educate the public was beautiful but flawed. The bears needed little to no saving. Timothy called himself a samurai and a warrior for his cause. In Timothy’s 100 hours of footage, there is no presence of a single poacher. In an interview with Herzog, a park ranger stated there is a stable population of 35,000 brown bears in Alaska, and on Kodiak Island only six percent of their population is killed every year. Timothy seemed to think that six percent was too large, but some of those deaths can be attributed to natural causes and population control, not just poaching.
Despite his efforts to only save the bears, Timothy harms the bears at times. By constructing a trail for the salmon to move downstream for the bears to feed on, he goes too far. In no way was it his job or right to act like God and make the stream flow because it had not rained enough. Sven Haakanson, a museum director, stated that the Alaskan natives recognize a line between bear and human that Timothy overlooked and overstepped. Timothy continually crossed the line and in turn hurt the bears. Sven commented that Timothy tried to be like a bear, which was the “ultimate disrespect.” He also said that Timothy did more damage than good because the bears became accustomed to Timothy’s presence, and one should not familiarize bears with humans.
Also, through Timothy’s quest to save the bears, he seemed to forget or not understand his real enemies. In one scene, Timothy is extremely angry at the park service for failing to better protect the bears. He goes on a rant of cursing and yelling about the park service on camera. He said the park service is his enemy. Timothy is irritated that there were only two flyovers in two month to check for poachers. He believes their actions are inadequate. In other scenes, a group of photographers visit the area. Timothy assumes they are poachers. He grows paranoid and starts wearing camouflage at all times. He thinks the note “hi Timothy see you summer 2001” carved on a tree, a rock with a drawn on smiley face and a stack of rocks are warnings. Timothy describes these traces left by the photographers as “Freddy Kruger crazy” although it is apparent that Timothy is to one going crazy for thinking such non-threatening remains are hints of danger to come.
Timothy’s efforts to watch over the bears during the summer months were of good intentions but seemed too extreme in the measures he was will to take to have his message heard. Marnie Gaede stated that with all of the drama surrounding Timothy’s death, his message concerning the bears would be better noticed. Also, Timothy said he was willing to die for the bears. Even after his death, his friends illustrate the radical depth of Timothy’s dedication to his goal by spreading his ashes mixed with bear fur.