tonight on "nightline," when animals attack. a black bear prowling the suburbs. elephants rampaging through a village. a tiger terrorizing a crowd. it's happening more and more. as man and beast collide and the outcome can be deadly. the real pat tillman story, revealed for first time in his own words. from his patriotic decision to leave football, to doubts about his mission, and now new details about how the army's most famous soldier died. and plus, touching a nerve. a coast guard training exercise

in the nation's capital triggers a security scare. so what were they thinking? captions paid for by abc, inc. good evening, everyone. i'm terry moran. we begin with a battle between man and animal, one that's intensified as a growing human population expands into what was once the animals' kingdom. take bears, for example. the number of bears in the u.s. is more than doubled over the past two decades. it's led to tens of thousands of potentially deadly encounters each year. sometimes inside people's homes. as these animals hunt for food. as vicki mabry reports, if something isn't done soon the problem will only get worse. >> 911, what is the address of your emergency? >> there's a bear in our house

and it just attacked my wife. >> is your wife injured? >> yes. >> around aspen, colorado, this summer police are responding to unprecedented bear sightings and attacks. police say they have received more than 400 calls about bears since july 1. state wildlife officials estimate they have killed more than 40 bears that repeatedly encroached on neighborhoods. the bear at this house broke in through french doors. on a hiking trail in the abercrombie mountains of washington state last week, it was a cougar that attacked 5-year-old simon. >> i stumbled and when i looked over there was -- the cat had simon by the head, his mouth was on his head. i was shrieking like i have never shrieked before. >> simon's mother fought the cougar off with the only weapon she had -- a water bottle. >> it's all i had in my hand. i don't -- i don't know. i just knew i had to do

something. otherwise, the cat was going to win. >> simon survived. but in the battle of man against nature, the skirmishes appear to be increasing. is this boy lucky? >> he's more than lucky. if you get hit by lightning you don't survive very often. but he was bit by a cougar. >> animal expert jack hanna is the director emeritus of the columbus zoo who has been introducing us to adorable furry creatures on "good morning america" for years. >> is that amazing? these are warm-weather penguins from south africa. don't have a skunk as a pet. they can carry rabies. >> but he's very serious, he says violent interactions are animals are up because of overpopulation, too many people and too many animals. are we encoaching into too much of their territory, is that the problem? >> no doubt about it. problem is overpopulation, that's my personal opinion.

it's causing all these things to happen. we only have a little world here. we have to control overpopulation if these animals are going to have any chance at all. because they don't have a place to live anymore. >> as animals move closer to humans and perhaps more importantly humans move closer to animals, they're adapting. >> when they do that, they don't fear man. they don't fear man and that's where the problem is starting. like, for example, you might have a bird feeder in your backyard in montana and the grizzly bears want to fatten up in the fall, they see the bird feed or the cat food outside for your cat. you don't pay attention to your garbage. they get used to that and they become habituated which is what you don't want if you want these animals wild. >> it's not just in the united states. in india, villagers watch helplessly as elephants sometimes alone, sometimes in herds, rampage through their homes and fields. in another village, a pregnant tiger is stuck in a tree.

she has to be tranquilized to be moved farther away. but before she goes out, she gives the gathered crowd a terrible scare. and in mumbai, a leopard attacked and killed ten people. in australia as well as in florida, it's not bears and cougars, it's crocodiles and alligators. and bears aren't just invading the wild, wild west. they're also moving into the heavily populated east. four years ago new jersey allowed hunters to kill nearly 300 bears, but complaints about it rose last year by 85%. >> the rule of thumb is a fed bear is a dead bear. the bear has to be put down, why is that? because that bear relates you to food. >> often the feeding is not intentional. >> we have more and more trash, we have more and more bird feeder, people are trying to help, but sometimes they try to help and it's hurting more than helping. >> is the answer more hunting? >> i knew that question was coming.

to answer your question, yes in certain areas. it has to be. i'm not a hunter, but you have to remember something. so the best conservation is good hunters. >> conversely, is there too much development? >> well, there has to be too much development because there's too many people. the predators aren't there. the natural balance is upset. you can only screw around with the natural balance so long. if you keep it up we'll all pay the price. it's that simple. >> as we talked, hannah introduced us to a 6-month-old snow leopard, adorable, cuddly and in six months could be deadly except -- >> i'm not worried about this cat killing somebody. if you're up in the mountains 10,000 or 15,000 feet, you will see them two miles away? nobody lives up there. >> but that's what it used to be like for other animals. >> there's what the world used -- that's what the world used to be like. but that world is not like that

anymore. >> there's no need to avoid nature, jack hanna says. just take along some spray and a healthy dose of awareness. to illustrates, he talks about a story of trapping a grizzly bear. >> we took rubber bullets and hit him in the butt. and we did that because why? >> to scare him. >> he will say these people are not nice people. people aren't nice, so let's stay away from people. >> when they're cute like this it's hard to remember they're wild, unpredictable hunters who have to learn for their good and ours to fear humans once again. this is vicki mabry for "nightline" in new york. >> the delicate balance between man and beast. our thanks to vicki for that. when we come back, he left the football field for the battlefield. tonight, new revelations about the life and death of pat tillman.

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well, today of course marked the eighth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of september 11, 2001 that took the lives of nearly 3,000 people. in ceremonies in new york and washington and pennsylvania and across the country, it was a somber day of remembrance. so we now turn to a soldier who left professional football to fight for his country. stirred to service by 9-11. tonight, new revelations about pat tillman's mission and how this patriot paid the ultimate price. as bob woodruff reports. >> pat tillman, the arizona cardinals safety was known for his fierce tackles. >> over the middle. what a hit! pat tillman knocked the helmet out of isaac -- >> unbridled spirit on the football field. >> let's two! >> okay.

initially -- >> rob -- >> as the unflinching patriot who driven by the events on 9-11 gave up his multimillion career to volunteer for military duty and died in afghanistan. >> as much as pat tillman loved competing on the football field, he loved america even more. >> it had become -- he had become a symbol of all those american soldiers who have sacrificed their lives in iraq and afghanistan, and now these letters to his wife marie and personal journal seen publicly here for first time reveal that in the year leading to his de h death, he had come to have serious doubts about the way america was fighting its war on terror. my life to this point is relatively easy. my job is challenging and enjoyable and it fools me into thinking it's important. >> his wife turned the journals over to jon krakauer who wrote

"piecing together pat tillman's story". >> who takes a perfect life and ruins it? if i do not strangle someone while i was here, i was touched by an angel. >> tillman and his wife were married only a few days when he enlisted and then two months later he's in boot camp. >> marie is always on my mind. i miss the sound of her voice. >> pat and his brother kevin enlisted together and served together in the elite army rangers. their platoon mates remember them as inseparable. >> they're the closest brothers. >> pat wanted to fight in afghanistan to hunt for osama bin laden. shortly after he completed rangers school in 2003, the united states invaded iraq. >> pat was extremely upset about this. he thought that the war was

illegal, he thought it was a mistake, he thought it was going to be a disaster. and, you know, you don't -- in the army you're not supposed to talk about that. you're not supposed to talk politics and pat didn't shut up. he told everyone who he encountered this war is illegal as hell. >> as it turns out pat's first mission was in iraq, not afghanistan. >> if kevin and i are part of a situation where we must fight, every bit of my soul knows we'll fight as hard as anyone ever has. we will not question the reasons for our being here or allow any personal beliefs to interfere with our job. i hope that the decisions are being made with the same good faith that kevin and i aim to display. i hope this war is about more than oil and money and power. i doubt that it is. >> do you think later on he thought this is about oil? >> oh, there's no doubt. the more -- you know, more time pat spent in iraq the more and more he realized this whole thing was terrible. >> but pat tillman was the most famous soldier in the army at that time.

and very important to a pentagon trying to maintain public support for the war. >> donald rumsfeld was a guy who happened to notice when pat enlisted, he sent him a personal letter and tried to turn him into the poster boy. he was watching tillman's every move from the moment he enlisted throughout -- they knew, you know, when pat tillman coughed they knew it. >> yet pat shunned the limelight and refused to do any interviews once he joined the army. >> he didn't want any special treatment. he was content just being like everybody else. he didn't want to be glorified or put up on a pedestal. he just wanted to do what he believed in. >> he was really smart about politics. and he knew that there was a really good chance that if he died this -- that administration would try to capitalize on it for their benefit. and he didn't want that to happen. >> pat's first mission turned out to be a high-profile rescue. >> pat and kevin tillman were part of the rescue for jessica lynch. they were involved in that.

and as this -- as the army was sending, you know, a thousand troops there, they're organizing the incredible number of people pat looked around and said, wait a minute, something is fishy here. >> pat expressed suspicion about the operation and why so many special forces were involved in it. >> i do believe this to be a big public relations stunt. do not misstate me. i wish everyone in trouble to be rescued but sending this many folks in for a single low-ranking soldier screams of media blitz. in any case, i'm glad to be able to do my part. i hope we bring her home safe. >> of course, it turned out he was right. the operation had been a publicity stunt. lynch was being treated at an iraqi hospital and her doctors had tried to turn her over to the army in the days before the raid. tillman feared that if something were to happen to him, he too would be used as propaganda and he shared this with some of his

platoon mates. >> one night, pat kind of out of the blue said, you know, if i get killed over here, don't let them parade me through the street. that's something i just -- i hate to think about. i'm afraid if i die, you know, their going to make me into the symbol and they're going to parade me through the street. you know? don't let that happen. >> but by the spring of 2004, pat was on his way to afghanistan. and on his way to die. ♪

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pat tillman gave up the chance to compete in the national football league and to

follow his patriot heart. he fought for the country. but his deployment first was to iraq, and his journals reveal that he was troubled by that. he felt his war was in afghanistan. more now from bob woodruff. >> by april 2004, pat tillman was finally in afghanistan. it was where he wanted to be. >> he'd become much more disillusioned about the army by what he had seen in iraq, but he -- he was going to fulfill his commitment and he was looking forward to going to afghanistan. >> on april 22, 2004, while on mission in the mountains of afghanistan, near the pakistan border, a humvee broke down and the platoon was ordered to split into two groups. pat went with one, and his brother went with the other. >> it's really sad, this tragic cascade of decisions. >> i heard the gun fire and then i saw the tracer rounds pouring out.

>> pat's group raced to support them. >> like a fireworks show, and my adrenaline just immediately spiked. and then once i got out of the vehicle, my squad leader, you know, he was like, all right, this is it. calm down, you know, this is what we trained for. i kind of, you know, came back to reality for a second. and then we charged up the hill. >> communications were down. and the men under fire including tillman's brother had no idea their fellow rangers were on the ridge trying to protect them. >> the guys ambushed with guns blazing. >> i remember him, he was trying to make contact, he was waving his arms and everything. >> pat and an afghan soldier serving with him were killed by friendly fire. >> i saw him slumped over. i saw o'neill grab him and pull him back and there's when i could tell he was hit. couldn't see it great. i didn't want to really look at it. but i remember seeing a hole --

it looked like a mist of red. >> he was at the end of the convey, he didn't know pat was killed by friendly fire. kevin was kept in the dark for a month. >> the military told pat's family he was told by the taliban. the tillmans did not learn the truth until five weeks later. >> i think it's wrong. i mean, you don't tell somebody a story that didn't happen to try and make them feel better. there's not a whole lot that will make them feel better at the time. might as well tell him the truth. >> pat's brother kevin went before congress to talk about it. >> revealing that pat's death was a fratricide would have been another political disaster, so the alternative narrative had to be constructed. >> krakauer's book reveals new information about tillman's death. known until now only to the army and to his family. this video never before aired was taken by army investigators in 2006. it shows the spot where pat

tillman was killed. >> the location here. >> behind these boulders where he was hiding from a rain of bullets. what shocked by you that investigation? >> no one is asking the right questions, they're not asking any questions. there's nothing. they drive through the canyon. we're done now, cut. >> so they began at the north end of the valley. >> you think when they read this book of yours especially in the military and person isly within the administration -- and certainly in the administration of president bush, do you think they'll say that you have the wrong story? >> i think they'll raise objections. it's not a flattering portrait of rumsfeld, cheney especially. some very senior members of the officer corps. generals. we're talking four-star generals. they did not do the right thing with pat tillman. >> the general running the entire operation in afghanistan now, general mccrystal, you in your book talk about his role in all of this. >> mccrystal is extremely quiet.

he covers his tracks. he avoids publicity, but we do know that mccrystal was notified probably the night pat was killed and certainly the next day. >> we interviewed mccrystal in afghanistan this past july. we asked him to answer a few questions about tillman. he refused. former seco former secretary of defense rumsfeld also declined to be interviewed for this story. >> many have sacrificed the same sacrifice that the tillman family now suffers. >> before tillman filled out a form before he left for iraq, he did not want the army to have a direct part in his funeral. what do you think he'll feel about this? >> he would be so angry, he would be so hurt and furious at what his family's had to suffer at the hands of the army and the government. i mean, -- you know, he'd want

to come down and wring somebody's neck for sure. >> for "nightline" i'm bob woodruff in new york. >> a patriot's story on this 9-11 anniversary. our thanks to bob woodruff for that story. jon krakauer's book will be in the bookstores on tuesday. and a training exercise causes a security scare and that's the subject of tonight's "closing argument." hey there, this is your lamp. why don't you show the lady how romantic you can be by turning me off? you'll set the mood while using a lot less energy. maybe later you can hook me up with a cfl. it will show how much you care for the environment.

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