I was watching the repeat of Bear in the Alps tonight. He found an animal that had died in an avalanche. He said to stay away from the smelly meat of the animal but to eat the maggots that are feeding on the smelly meat. Without washing, boiling/cooking, or cleaning the maggots in any way he bit the heads off and ate the bodies if them. Now, my thinking is that if you don't want to eat the meat, why would you want to eat the maggots that are chewing through the meat without at least washing them first? Am I wrong in thinking this? My feelings are if I'm in a survival situation I don't want to take a chance on making my situation worse by eating tainted maggots. What are you thoughts?

It could be possible it had something to do with the amount of maggots that he ate was not harmful:

http://greenerside.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/03/gotta_love_that.html

My first thought was, Geeeeeze......that goes against everything I've been taught, knew, and experienced. But then again...at least he's getting paid <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

My last thought on this subject: the maggots were alive.

He located said critter by _smell_ and proceeded to eat the backwards half of the maggots after stating " I shouldn't be touching the meat of this animal, but....."

Anyone else see him get abdominal cramps after drinking "obiously pure rain forest river water"?

I for one take his _show_ with a very large grain of salt.

Iodized, of course <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I for one, just watched one episode, and it was that French Alps episode. That did it for me, I don't take his show at all. I'd rather switch channels and watch reruns of old action flicks. Same difference.

I find no merit in his antics, and (this is significant) _neither does my wife_, which is the primary reason I put it on occasionally--everything he does it out of the Realm of Common Sense.

Is it this one:

Or this one:

The latter, of course. One immense grain of salt.

Glad to see I'm not the only one that thinks his methods are flawed.

The last episode was pretty bad.

It was obviously his and their plan for him to raft the white-water rapids from the start. They had cameramen positioned 2 miles downstream on hills overlooking the rapids. His lame comments of how he feared rapids might be ahead, and then, "oh dear, I'm trapped in the rapids now, I can't possible swim out in time," were patently false.

I also think they brought the rabbit with them. He spent a good bit of time making/practicing with his throwing club, and then, hey, what luck, there's a big ole tame rabbit in the field for him to creep within 15 feet of and toss his stick at.

Sorry it took a while to respond to this posting, work seems to be getting in the way.

The maggots themselves (internally), as they digest the dead tissue of the animal, will likely kill whatever bacteria is contaminating the tissue. However, since the exterior of the maggots are likely contaminated with enteric (from the gut) pathogenic (disease causing) bacteria, such as Salmonella, Staphylococcus and Streptococcus species, the eating of uncooked maggots (fly larvae) can led to food poisoning. The amount of maggots consumed does not necessarily correlate to potential infection. Even the consumption of 1 heavily contaminated maggot could lead to infection/food poisoning.

Pete

Thanks for the info, Pete, you've re-confirmed firmly that Bear is a moron. I can "bear" no more of Bear's illogic.

This show.. it's a comedy right? <img src="/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" /> I perfer 'I shouldn't be alive" . I learn something new everytime I watch.

Any horse experts have an opinion on him jumpimg on the back of the wild horse?

Dave

I'm no expert, but I've been around horses.

You can be thrown, stomped, kicked, bitten, and knocked down by startled tame horses. Why would this fool set himself up to have his neck or back broken, legs broken, gut-kicked or skull stomped by a wild one?

I've never seen this show, but it sounds like it should be retitled "Survival: Hollywood Style".

Sue

Thanks for clearing that up Pete. Thanks again for the kits you sent me. You know that there's gonna come a time when someone that has watched that show gets into a situation and uses some of Bear's methods. I wonder what the real outcome would be.

I agree with Nighthiker. If just like the camera crew that travels with him, the horse owner/wrangler was not on camera. In order for a person to get that close to a "wild horse" a 200 yard shot with a tranquilizer gun would be the best bet. I have tried to professionally break wild horses for the BLM and have found that after 2 months of work I was able to get on the back of one - not a few hours of making nice. The show is what me and my friends watch as a comedy of errors. By the way - I would eat the horse before I would eat a live snake! Just a personal note.

Man, this thread makes me glad that I have disconnected my cable tv! <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

I have been around horses all my life, and belive me that was no wild horse, A wild horse would have been gone the moment it seen him. It was more than likley horses out to mountian pasture.

Actually, THIS show should be called, "I Shouldn't Be Alive." <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Bear said he thought these were escaped horses, which made sense going by their behavior.

The funny thing about using wild or escaped horses is that without a bridle (horsey steering) he will escape to where ever the horse desides to take him before he gets scraped off the back of the horse. And I will bet that he will get "there" a lot faster then his crew will be able to find him and medivac him out of there. He should be wearing a football helmet and be allowed to park really close to the business doors. Hope that doesn't offend any one - but he could be the MVP at the special olympics, if they didn't think he was too dangerous to be around. Just my opinion.

Hi All,

This is my first post here, but I've been reading the forum for awhile. Count me in the minority (obviously), but I look at this show as pure entertainment, and because of that, I enjoy watching his trials and tribulations. There's no question in my mind that he does certain things because of its entertainment value, and not because it's the correct survival thing to do.

On the flip side, I have a hard time watching Survivorman, because it's like watching paint dry for me. I really don't care that he's got to lug all the camera gear around just so we, the viewers can watch him walk away from, or towards the camera.

And don't get me started on "I Shouldn't Be Alive".

Hank

P.S. The knowledge that you guys have here is simply mind-boggling.

I have to disagree with that. I personally like Les Stroud mmuch better than that other guy. I finally watched one of his episodes (the same one that most everyone is talking about) and I have to say, I'm amazed that he doesn't kill himself. On the other hand, Les Stroud to me doesn't really go the distance in that he says since he knows he's going home in a week, he doesn't really get into survival mode. I got that from his personal website. I would like to see him really kick it into high gear. I think that's why most people like shows like these in first place, to see what a human being is capable of under extreme circumstances. I really couldn't get into the Man vs. Wild thing so I don't think I'll be watching it again but I will continue to be a big Les Stroud fan, because as I said earlier, I think he's more of a human than the rest of them. He seems like a guy that would be fun to hang out with.

Thanks, guys. My understanding was that a wild horse wouldn't let someone anywhere near them. Add this one to the fish hooks.

Dave

You are correct to question it. There are a number of things that humans would succumb to that maggots are unaffected by.

A good illustration is a duck kill that I worked a number of years ago. Avian botulism combined with oppressive heat and drought had concentrated the water holes on streams in an urban area. Ducks would die, bacT and insects set upon them and make quick work of them. However, maggots accumulated the botulinum toxin and were the source of further duck poisonings. All-told...over two locations we removed an incinerated roughly 600+ carcasses (not all ducks and some small mammals were also affected after gorging on the little insect diners). Followups were required for months and dead and dying were removed. Finally the cycle was broken but approximately 80-90% of the population of ducks and wading birds were killed.

Anyway, that's a long-winded example of why not to necessarily trust other organisms to make a food source safe for humans. Animals can tolerate things we can't, and vise versa.

Yeti, excellent example and welcome to the forum.

Good information from both you and Yeti , however, I doubt seriously if Bear Grylls is or was aware of any of this, especially the "self-innoculation" theory.

Hello All

My eyes are starting to play tricks on me but as that horse made it's escape the bottom of it's feet were bright and metalic looking.

Wade

Your British friend makes fun because they've got Ray Mears. That guy is very informative without a bunch of jumping around. I've heard that he has the nickname of "fatty Mears" because he'll spend a week in the desert with what's in his pockets and come out of it a pound heavier.

Maybe we could persuade TLC to rerun his "Survivor" series. Or run the "Bushcraft" series. I've never seen the Bushcraft, but if they're similar to the "Survivor" series, they have to be good.

Anything but Man vs. Wild, I get sorta Bearnausic when they even show his face on a commercial break. I would really like to see any of Ray Mears' shows on tv. I have his survival handbook and like some of the info it offers I wouldn't find anywhere else. I have seen him one time on television a few years back making a desert crossing "down under" just to show how to do it correctly, if I recall right.

When it comes to British survival experts, I read where someone on a forum put it in this perspective once: Lofty Wiseman is the expert on getting it "sorted out," while Ray Mears is more of the expert in bushcraft.

I heard that there will be a second season of "Survivorman" in February or somethinglike that. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

understood. However, while we're discussing Clostridium botulinum ...the bacteria (actually several strains thereof), the real danger is in the botulinum toxin. Botulinum toxin is a neurotoxin produced as a byproduct by the growing bacteria. It is highly toxic even in small amounts (VERY miniscule amounts are used in Botox though).

As for the bacteria themselves, we are all exposed to Clostridium botulinum on a daily basis... the soil, the food we eat, etc. So while we can tolerate the bacteria, we are all susceptible to the toxin produced by a growing population of the bacteria...even those getting regular Botox shots (for instance).