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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Cindy Sheehan Moves Camp; Computer Worms Creates Havoc; Sunbathers Beware; Hunting Booby Traps; Grizzly Attack
Aired August 16, 2005 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening from New York. I'm Anderson Cooper.
Cindy Sheehan's Crawford campout. Tempers flare, and Cindy Sheehan agrees to move. It's 7:00 p.m. on the East coast, 4:00 p.m. on the West, 360 starts now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): A computer worm creates havoc, shutting down systems, stopping workers dead in their tracks. Tonight, what you need to know to protect your computer from the worm.
Cindy Sheehan's protest in Crawford. The White House stands firm, as tempers flare. Memorial crosses get mowed down, as new allegations fly about Cindy Sheehan's motherly mission.
On the hunt for booby traps. Tonight, the number-one killer of U.S. troops in Iraq. We take you to the front lines, what our troops face every day.
Sunbathers beware: A new study says some sun worshippers are sun tan addicts. Can you really get addicted to sun bathing? Tonight, what you need to know before stepping out in the sun.
And a grizzly attack. A man mauled to death in the Alaska wilderness. Tonight, what drove this mysterious man to live with bears and what made the bears turn on their alleged protector.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.
COOPER: And good evening, again. We begin tonight with a developing story, one that has hit us personally at CNN. Just about two hours ago, most of our computers here and some systems across the country running Windows 2000 suddenly shut down, apparently attacked by a computer worm.
As you can imagine, technology crews have been working feverishly to get their systems back online and to figure out exactly what caused this worm and where it from. Joining me from Atlanta with the latest, CNN technology correspondent, Daniel Sieberg.
Daniel, what do you know? DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, this story is happening very quickly. In fact, we're processing information as we're on the air right now. So we're going to try and keep people up-to-date.
Basically, what we're talking about here is a computer worm that started spreading very quickly on the Internet earlier today, hitting, among other companies, us -- you pointed out CNN was hit by this -- as well as ABC, "The New York Times," and Capitol Hill computers, as well, were effected. We know of those for sure. Places in Germany and Asia, as well.
This is spreading very quickly, so it could be affecting any number of other companies. The construction company Caterpillar also said it was hit. What we're talking about here is a computer worm that can basically send itself out over the Internet looking for computers to affect. In this case, we're talking about Windows 2000 computers primarily and certain versions of Windows XP, the operating system from Microsoft that's used by many people out there.
And what it's doing, basically, is shutting down and rebooting the computer endlessly. I'm watching computers here in the newsroom right now that are just constantly rebooting and trying to start-up.
COOPER: So, Daniel, somebody sitting at home listening to this, what should they do?
SIEBERG: Well, if you're sitting at home right now and you're seeing your computer do that right now, unfortunately -- I talked to one security expert -- there's not a whole lot you can do at this point. They're looking to put out the security patch for people.
But if your computer has these symptoms, if it's shutting down and rebooting, there's not much you can do. However, if your computer is not infected at this point, Microsoft has put out a patch on its web site at microsoft.com. Microsoft is aware of this hole and vulnerability and this problem. They are calling it at this point low-impact, so it's tough to say how far it's spread at this point.
COOPER: All right. Daniel, we'll continue to follow it. Thanks.
In Crawford, Texas, a protest against the war in Iraq has turned into a battle, really, of words. Some folks living near President Bush's ranch are not happy with Cindy Sheehan's demonstration. She's been camping out, as you probably know, along the road leading to the president's ranch, trying to get an audience with the president to talk about her son who died in Iraq.
Now, dozens of people have joined her, hundreds at times. More than 60 local residents have signed a petition now to get the protesters to move. One man went even farther today, allegedly using his truck to mow down memorial crosses and American flags in the dead of night. CNN's White House correspondent Dana Bash has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It happened in the dead of the night. The way witnesses tell it, a man chained a metal pipe to the side of his pickup and knocked down hundreds of crosses antiwar demonstrators erected along the road.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I could hear the pipe clanging. I could see the damage of the crosses.
BASH: Each cross bears the name of a soldier killed in Iraq.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He just ran over 78 American flags, right down that road there, and I'm not very happy with it.
BASH: The 59-year-old man responsible was arrested and charged with criminal mischief shortly after the incident, found fixing a flat with part of a cross stuck in a tire. Iraq veteran Charles Anderson, here to support Cindy's cause, helped clean up.
CHARLES ANDERSON, IRAQ WAR VETERAN: This is a memorial to the fallen (INAUDIBLE) that someone would do this is just unthinkable to me.
BASH: These crosses lined the sprawling property owned by Melissa Harrison.
MELISSA HARRISON, CRAWFORD, TEXAS, RESIDENT: I was embarrassed, actually. I was embarrassed that someone would do that.
BASH: But Melissa is fed up and says Cindy Sheehan's Crawford vigil is disruptive and dangerous. She was one of several Bush neighbors to speak before the county commission Tuesday in support of a petition to move Sheehan's Camp Casey.
Melissa and other conservative locals back the president, not Sheehan, but say she does have a right to protest. They just want it someplace else. They call the traffic, the tents, the strangers sleeping outside a safety hazard. Cindy's response?
CINDY SHEEHAN, SON DIED IN IRAQ: The minute George Bush speaks with me, we'll be gone. And we are doing everything we can do to cooperate with them, be good neighbors. We're not noisy. I don't see any traffic. We're not noisy, I don't see any traffic.
BASH: But just hours later, she agreed to move, accepting an offer from a sympathetic resident to demonstrate on his private land and...
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: Hours later, Cindy Sheehan did decide to move. She actually accepted an offer from a sympathetic neighbor of President Bush, actually somebody who lives much closer to President Bush, only about a mile down from his ranch.
So close, Anderson, that our cameras got a glimpse of him bike riding today trying to look through that piece of land. COOPER: Dana, what is the mood down there? I mean, are there counter-protesters and protesters? Is it, you know, voluble? Are people shouting? I mean, it seems very quiet where you are right now.
BASH: Well, I'm actually not quite near what they call Camp Casey, or at least where Camp Casey is until tomorrow, when they do move. But it is quite different from the way it was over the weekend, Anderson.
Over the weekend, we saw hundreds of people here, both for and against what Cindy Sheehan was trying to do. Now it is a lot more quiet. You have sort of a steady stream of people coming there, but I would say, probably at any given time, you wouldn't see more than 25 to 30 people up where Camp Casey is.
COOPER: And no doubt a lot more media folks probably at times than protesters, at this point. Dana, appreciate it. Thanks.
Last night, I spoke with Cindy Sheehan. I asked her about a particular statement that's been attributed to her, a statement that many have criticized her for, in which she allegedly says the Iraq war was waged to benefit Israel.
Now, here's the exchange we had last night. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: You were also quoted as saying, "My son joined the Army to protect America, not Israel. If you get America out of Iraq and Israel out of Palestine, and you'll stop the terrorism." How responsible do you believe Israel is for the amount of terrorism in the world?
SHEEHAN: I didn't say that.
COOPER: You didn't say that? OK.
SHEEHAN: I didn't say that my son died for Israel. I've never said that. I saw somebody wrote that, and it wasn't my words. Those aren't even words that I would say.
I do believe that the Palestinian issue is a hot issue that needs to be solved, and it needs to be more fair and equitable, but I never said my son died for Israel.
COOPER: OK, I'm glad I asked you that. Because, as you know, there's tons of stuff floating around on the Internet on sites of all political persuasions, so I'm glad we had the opportunity to clear that up.
SHEEHAN: And thank you, because those are not my words. It doesn't even sound like me saying that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, today, we've received numerous e-mails from viewers who saw that, and said, "Well, she lied. We read online that ABC News confirmed she sent them a letter saying exactly that."
So we contacted ABC News today about it. They said they had received a letter on behalf of Cindy back in March. They said took it seriously enough that they responded to it, but so far they cannot find the actual e-mail, they say. They say they're trying to find it, they're investigating.
Bottom line, ABC News right now does not seem to be confirming this is what Cindy Sheehan wrote to them, so stay tuned. We'll continue to follow.
We wanted to hear what you have to say about the demonstrations in Crawford. If your computer is working, send us your e-mails. Log on to CNN.com/360. We'll try to get some of responses later tonight.
You can also give you a call, toll-free, at 866-NY-AC-360, that's 866-692-2360, 866-692-2360. We'll listen to some of your comments. And tomorrow, when we come to you live from Crawford, Texas, we'll play them on the air.
Coming up next on 360, the deadliest plane crash in Venezuela's history, 160 people killed, no survivors. We'll bring you the latest on that.
Plus, Penguins 101. Two creatures of the land and the sea, well, they stopped by our studio, of all places, earlier today. We'll show you why.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, the number-one killer of American troops in Iraq are IEDs, improvised explosive devices, devious weapons, booby-trapped bombs that are often laid on the sides of roads, sometimes hidden in vehicles or even in dead dogs, at times.
As we said, it is the number-one killer and maimer of U.S. forces right now in Iraq. A short time ago, a CNN reporter, Alex Quade, went into the front lines in Fallujah on patrol with the Marines in Fallujah looking for IEDs. We're going to bring you that story in just a few minutes.
First, we're going to take a short break, and we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, if the computer worm hasn't gotten her, Erica Hill from Headline News will join us with some stories that we're following tonight. Hey, Erica, there you are.
ERICA HILL, CNN HEADLINE NEWS ANCHOR: Yes, but I wouldn't rule it out. The night is young.
We actually start off tonight with a deadly plane crash in Venezuela. It is the worst in that country's history: 160 people killed when a Colombian plane crashed in a remote area in western Venezuela. Officials say the plane's pilots reported engine problems and asked to make an emergency landing shortly before contact was lost with the aircraft.
Meantime in Greece, some new details on the crash of Cyprus airliner there. The chief coroner of the investigation says the copilot of the plane was alive when the plane went down. Investigators are now looking into whether there had been a catastrophic loss of air pressure before the plane crashed into a mountain near Athens on Sunday. All 121 people on board were killed.
In Gaza, the deadline for the voluntary departure of Israeli settlers has now come and gone. When the clock struck midnight there about two hours ago, thousands of soldiers were still going door-to- door asking residents to leave peacefully. Some have ignored the soldiers, others yelled, some, though, did move out. Israeli commanders say, if necessary, they will have to forcibly remove those who won't leave.
And in Richmond, Virginia, a stampede at a used computer show -- this is absolutely amazing -- people lining up to buy used laptops for $50 bucks a piece. They were actually four-year-old iBooks. This is how bad it was: About a thousand people showed up, according to the A.P., at the Richmond International Speedway. Apparently, a little girl's stroller was crushed, an elderly man knocked to the pavement. Somebody, Anderson, even tried to drive a car through the crowd.
Unbelievably, most of the injuries were apparently bumps and bruises.
COOPER: Man, that's terrible.
HILL: Yes.
COOPER: Not good organization. Erica, thanks. We'll see you again in about 30 minutes.
Coming up next though on 360, we want to take you to the front lines in Fallujah. CNN's reporter Alex Quade did a remarkable job embedded with U.S. Marines. Let's take a look as they hunt for IEDs.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALEX QUADE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): ... Sergeant Daggenheart (ph) and his Marines have hit 22 IEDs, improvised explosive devices, in two weeks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I took some shrapnel in the leg. And thank God for gear, because I took a piece here, then in my holster. And then I got shrapnel across my leg. It's healing up now. It's all good. The helmet, you can see my helmet, my eyes through here.
QUADE (on-screen): Good thing you had these things on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes.
QUADE (voice-over): Some in his platoon bought extra protections on their own.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's not playing around. It's sappy here, sappy here.
QUADE: Everything helps, since their daily mission is hunting for bombs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But you get used to, you know -- I guess when we first got here, it was like, you know, paranoid, you know, where's the holes? Oh, my God. And now it's just like, if it's going to happen, it's going to happen.
QUADE: It does, on the important main supply route between Fallujah and Baghdad.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got some (beep) here. Try and hold everybody off. Abandoned vehicle. I don't know frickin' one missed it. We've got an Oompa Loompa (ph) on this bitch. No license plate.
QUADE: Daggenheart's (ph) Marines secure the area.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're just looking for trunks that are ajar, windows that may have been shot, doors welded shut, keyholes that are taken out, ignition wires that are ripped apart, wires coming out of the vehicle.
QUADE: They don't see anything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you want to go check it? I don't know, boom! I don't know.
QUADE: They decide to push it off the convoy route with an up- armored Humvee when it happens.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out! (beep) Get out! Get out! Get your ass back! Get your ass back!
QUADE: This is what the military calls a vehicle-borne IED. Translation: car bomb.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you OK?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They said they saw somebody running down there.
QUADE: Somebody watching and waiting for the right moment, the Marines say, detonated it remotely.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Son of a bitch. Well, welcome to friggin' Iraq.
QUADE: Amazingly, nobody was seriously hurt.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hurry up before (INAUDIBLE) starts cooking. Leave it there. Leave it there, because that's .50 caliber ammo, and everything's going to start cooking. QUADE: Ammunition can blow, causing injuries, or be salvaged by insurgents.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ammo. Ammo.
QUADE: Daggenheart (ph) worries there might be a second bomb timed to target the recovery.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to have a second one, if we don't get the (beep) out of here.
(CROSSTALK)
QUADE: Humvee driver Lance Corporal Jason Hunt (ph) tells me he thought he was going to die, then walks by me to pull security while his platoon deals with the situation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pretty close. I consider myself lucky.
QUADE: Gunny Daggenheart says it's just another day hunting for bombs and bomb builders.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to eventually kill them, at least in this little piece of the pie. I don't know how we're going to get them, but we're going to get them. I'd rather have a vehicle blown up than a Marine.
QUADE: Alex Quade, CNN, near Abu Ghraib, Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: You know, when you see that video, I mean, this is what these guys and women are day in, day out, no headlines. This is the kind of thing they see all the time.
QUADE: It is, every single day. They're out there. They're searching for IEDs. They're facing these things, airmen, soldiers, Navy, Marines, every single day.
COOPER: And some of these IEDs -- I mean, it's not just vehicle- borne. When I was there, I had some patrolmen tell me about, you know, dogs that were stuffed were bombs, a dead dog on the side of the road.
QUADE: Anything. Anything can be turned into an improvised explosive device. They've had cell phones, and garbage, and carcasses, animal carcasses, soda cans. Anything can be converted into something that can be detonated remotely.
And that's the thing. They'll be driving along the side of the road and see garbage or a pothole and their alarm bells will go off. And they worry that anything could be ready to explode.
COOPER: Well, it's great that, as soon as they saw that, they knew -- they knew something was suspicious about it. They did a remarkable job with that. Alex Quade, thanks very much, you, too, as well.
QUADE: Thank you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER (voice-over): Sunbathers beware. A new study says some sun worshippers are suntan addicts. Can you really get addicted to sunbathing? Tonight, what you need to know before stepping out in the sun.
And a grizzly attack. A man mauled to death in the Alaska wilderness. Tonight, what drove this mysterious man to live with bears and what made the bears turn on their alleged protector? 360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had lost sight of what was really going on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: That's a scene from a movie. And you're seeing what you thought you were seeing, a man basically inching closer to wild grizzly bears. It's one of the most talked-about movies of the summer. It's called "Grizzly Man."
It's a documentary that tells the story of a strange guy named Timothy Treadwell, a self-described bear expert, who chose to live among grizzly bears in Alaska. Now, for Treadwell, the bears were his friends and he was their protector. Armed with a video camera, his obsession with grizzlies made him a national celebrity. It also finally cost him his life, as well as the life of his girlfriend.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TIMOTHY TREADWELL, KILLED BY GRIZZLY BEAR: I would protect them. I would die for them, but I will not die at their claws and paws. I will fight, I will be strong, I'll be one of them. I will be master.
COOPER (voice-over): For 13 years, for several months a year, Timothy Treadwell lived in Alaska's national parks, determined, he said, to get up close and personal with the park's population of grizzly bears.
TREADWELL: You just relax. You just relax.
COOPER: Determined, he claimed, to protect them. He believed the bears were his friends. He even gave them names.
TREADWELL: Well, I'm here with one of my favorite bears, it's Mr. Chocolate.
COOPER: Tim Treadwell shot more than 100 hours of video footage of his life in the wild, often showing him just arm's lengths from a huge brown bear.
TREADWELL: No one ever friggin' knew that there are times when my life is on the precipice of death, and that these bears can bite. They can kill.
COOPER: But on October 6, 2003, Treadwell and his girlfriend, Amy Huguenard, were found mauled to death by the very creatures he swore he'd sacrifice his life to protect.
TREADWELL: Only Timmy is the boss of all foxes and all bears.
COOPER: Now his video diary has been turned into the film "Grizzly Man," which paints a portrait of Treadwell as dedicated, but deeply disturbed.
TREADWELL: We need more rain! Downy is hungry!
COOPER: A man whose own words foreshadowed his violent death.
TREADWELL: But that was a challenge. And you have to remain cool in the challenge, in the moment. If you don't, you're dead.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: My next guest knew Timothy Treadwell better than perhaps anybody else. Jewel Palovak was his friend and, with Treadwell, founded a group called Grizzly People devoted to protecting bears in their natural habitat. She joined me earlier from Los Angeles.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: You know, Jewel, sometimes when we see Timothy Treadwell addressing the camera, he's charming. Other times he seems, you know, frankly, a bit nutty. How would you describe him?
JEWEL PALOVAK, FRIEND OF TIMOTHY TREADWELL: Well, you know what? I think that "Grizzly Man" shows a true kind of portrait of Timothy Treadwell, like a photo album. Yes, I think sometimes he was acting nutty out there, but was also acting courageous. He was also introspective. He also was having a lot of fun.
And I think that all the emotions you see, I think, are present in everybody. And I think that they're all part of who Timothy Treadwell was.
COOPER: Let's show a clip from this movie, "Grizzly Man." Let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TREADWELL: As you can see, I'm just feet away. You just relax. You just relax. He's now moving away from me. I'm now proving myself as being able to hold my ground and therefore earning their respect. This is Rowdy the bear.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: He had names for all these bears that he encountered. I mean, he has come under a lot of criticism, basically for anthropomorphizing them and sort of giving them human qualities when, in fact, they're wild animals.
PALOVAK: Yes, you know, that's true. I always kind of look at it as there are two sides to the bear. When you think about it, your first toy is a teddy bear. So the tendency to anthropomorphize is there. And then the other spectrum is the scary, ferocious beasts. And I think Timothy wanted to try and portray something in the middle, to show people the world that most people never saw, not like a fuzzy bear to go out and pet and not a horrible beast. And I think that all of those are true for the bear.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: But, I mean, what he was doing -- I mean, does it make sense to you, really? I mean, he was taking an awful lot of risks. I mean, you could say he was foolish in many ways?
PALOVAK: You know, I don't think that you're foolish or crazy just because you do dangerous things for a living. I mean, tons of people do dangerous things for a living every day. I mean, Dale Earnhardt could've saved his life with a neck brace. No one says Mark Foo was a terrible idiot because he died at Mavericks. I think that a lot of ground breakers take chances.
COOPER: But these are people who really have their destinies in their own control, driving a car or surfing in the case of Mark Foo. This was a man without really any formal training who was just going and hanging out with bears.
PALOVAK: Yes, you know, he -- that's exactly what he did. He had no formal training, he wasn't a scientist. He never clammed to be one. And, you know, he was a great person with animals. Some people are just better animals than others, and he knew three generations of these bears.
And they had been habituated through photographers, fishermen, park service, but you know, there's a lot of footage of just Timothy hanging out with bears. It's not just, you know, footage of him up close and personal. There's a lot of things that weren't used where he's just peaceful and just hanging with generations of bears he's known for years.
COOPER: He says at one point in the movie -- he says they can kill -- talking about the bears -- but it will never be me. That sounds unrealistic. I mean, did he realize how much danger he was in?
PALOVAK: He did realize how much danger he was in. I think it's like anything that you do that is dangerous. You may eventually reach a comfort level and not really think that it can happen to you. I think that probably in his last moments he was very surprised, and probably his feeling were hurt. But he did have a large dedication to them, and he said he would die for them. And it's a shame he died by them.
COOPER: He thought bears were just misunderstood. What did he mean by that?
PALOVAK: Well, like I said before, either people think they're, you know, anthropomorphized and they're just fuzzy things that you see as a child, or definitely misunderstood that that's the only thing they want to do, that they want to just kill everything, when they're just -- I mean, they're one of world's largest carnivores up with big cats, and they just -- they have a regular life like everyone else. And what he wanted to show, was he wanted to show just them being in their natural environment, hoping to inspire people to preserve and protect them. .
COOPER: Well, coming up next on 360, surviving a bear attack. You're meet a man who did that. And Jeff Corwin stops by with some tips on what you should do if you ever run into a bear.
Also a little later tonight, a bad fall for Madonna, the pop icon seriously injured has a horse-riding accident. We'll have the latest on her condition and a lot more. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, on TV is about as close as you want to ever get a wild bear. They certainly may look cute and cuddly. In fact, they can be perfect killing machines, one of the most feared predators on the face of the earth.
Mark Matheny knows that all too well. In September of 1992, he was mauled near Yellowstone National Park by a massive grizzly. At one point his head was in the bear's mouth. He is very lucky to be alive. I spoke to him a short time ago from Billings, Montana.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Mark, you were out hunting elk in the mountains in Montana back in September 1992. It seemed to be a normal day. And then all of a sudden you stumble across a grizzly bear with her cubs. What happened next?
MARK MATHENY, BEAR ATTACK SURVIVOR: Well, she came charging and attacked me, and basically had my head in her mouth and I felt my skull crushing, and I thought that my time on earth was finished.
COOPER: And how fast was she moving?
MATHENY: Well, moving plenty fast. I knew she meant total business, and so I retreated back towards my friend, hoping that he could help me out by spraying the bear with the pepper spray he was carrying for that, and that's what entered my mind at that time.
COOPER: You tried to fight her off with a bow and arrow, didn't you?
MATHENY: Well, I threw out my bow and arrow out in front of me, yes sir, and held that out and yelled at her to get away, and of course she just swatted that down, and came over that log, and the next thing I know, you know, her mouth is open right here coming right at my throat. And I spun and that's when she bit me in the chest and then up through the face.
COOPER: When you realize -- when your head is in a bear's mouth, what goes through your mind?
MATHENY: Well, you're just saying oh God, help me, and you think that your time is finished, and you're going to miss your wife and kids. And you're going to -- your time is done.
COOPER: You really thought that was it?
MATHENY: I thought that was it, yes, sir.
COOPER: And what do you do? I mean, how do you get out of a bear's mouth?
MATHENY: Well, fortunately my partner came in to help me out, and he came in yelling at the bear. And I just remember thinking either I got to play dead or I'm going to be dead, and so I just went limp. I did not want to even try to fight that bear. They're so powerful and they're so strong that you're just like a rag doll.
And so he came in yelling at the bear, and distracted her, and she released me, then lunged at him. He tried to spray her with some pepper spray, but he only got a split second off because he was only about six feet away from her.
COOPER: And we're talking about, I mean, like 20 seconds or something. It must have felt like it went on forever.
MATHENY: It did. I mean, of course, time just stops and it's a very, of course, spiritual experience. And, you know, I got a big message that, Mark, you've been helping yourself all your life, and I want you to help me, and that's -- help people, and so, you know, that's why I went on to develop a product to help people to stop those attacks.
COOPER: So that's what -- you developed this -- a pepper spray basically for bears. This has really changed your life?
MATHENY: It has, and, you know, for people out there that want to know more about bear attacks and about bear spray, they can go to our Web site, pepperpower.com.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Mark was very lucky. We often hear stories where a bear attack ends in death. More and more of them venturing closer to populated areas. The chances of encountering a bear are certainly on the rise. The question is, would you know what to do to survive a bear attack. For answers, let's talk with Jeff Corwin of "Corwin's Quest" on Animal Planet. He joins me from Los Angeles. Jeff, great to see you again on the program. JEFF CORWIN, "CORWIN'S QUEST": How are you doing, Anderson?
COOPER: Good. You've actually been charged by a bear.
CORWIN: I have. You know, it's a part of my job, is to feature and highlight wildlife in the wild. And we've done shows on bears and we've had situations where we followed all the rules, we're working with bear biologists as part of a study, and then the unthinkable or unplanned happens and you're face-to-face with a big bear.
COOPER: And what is that like, being face-to-face?
CORWIN: Well, it's a -- you're actually face to belly button, because bears can be quite large. The thing that one really has to remember is that when bad things happen to people and a bear is involved, 99 percent of the time it's human error. And the thing that really can help individuals in a situation where they encounter a bear -- and it can be absolutely terrifying.
You know, hearing the situation from that gentleman's mouth about when he was attacked by a bear, I mean, it puts my heart in my throat. But what one has to remember is the secret to survival with a bear is distance, and when your distance decreases between you and bear, the probability of you not having the time to react and to get out safely, OK, decreases dramatically. You need about a minimal of 300 feet between you and a wile bear.
COOPER: Because they can move incredibly fast.
CORWIN: Amazingly fast. I had a situation where we were filming bears in South America, in Peru, not so long ago, and I looked over the bluff of this hill, and I could see 600, 700 feet away this spectacled bear charging right after me -- it was a show on bears -- and I'm thinking, I'm about to become a part of the food chain.
And you know, what you do, what you're supposed to do, if you're in a situation like that, the first thing is to do is to find a safe, quiet, nondramatic way of getting yourself out of that dangerous situation.
If you can't do that, OK, you have to hold your ground. You have to be larger than life. Basically, you want that bear to think, I don't want to mess with you, you're just too big to tangle with.
But if the worst, the rare moment should happen that you are being physically attacked by that bear, you need to just, as that gentleman did, he did the exact right thing, play dead, lay on the ground, protect your innards, protect the soft part of your body, and hope for the best.
COOPER: What does playing dead do? What, they just get bored of you?
CORWIN: Well, basically, you know, it's the -- it's fight or flight, it's the autonomic response that you're trying to prevent this bear from engaging. OK? So essentially, if you're resisting, if you're struggling, it's basically bringing out that animal's instinct to pursue. If you go limp, if you go dead, he might become bored of the situation and back off.
COOPER: And why are they attacking?
CORWIN: If you (INAUDIBLE) him, he'll charge after you -- sorry?
COOPER: I mean, it's not -- why are they attacking? It's not that they necessarily want to kill people. It's what, they're protecting their cubs? They're hungry?
CORWIN: You know, there are basically three major reasons that would cause a bear to attack. One is violating his territory, invading his space to the point where he takes you as a threat, either as competition, OK, or as someone that may hurt him. OK? He may look at you as a predator.
The second would be a cub situation. A sow, a female bear with her cubs, is not to be messed with. She will put her life on the line to protect her cubs.
And you know, if she's weighing 600 pounds and you're weighing 170 pounds, you know who is going to lose.
The other reason would be is if people violate the barrier between bear and human beings. You know, it's very rare you'll have a problem with a grizzly bear, because they occupy a remote part of North America. They're in the, you know, northwest corridor. They are places, you know, like Montana, Alaska. But black bears stretch from Maine to California, from north to south, and when they...
COOPER: And as development increases, people are infringing more and more on their...
CORWIN: Exactly. When they get in your backyard and they're in the feeder, and then people start baiting them and giving them marshmallows, getting close with the video camera, that's when problems happen.
COOPER: Hey, Jeff, it's always good to talk to you. Thanks for being on the show.
CORWIN: Thanks, Anderson.
COOPER: I want to put this in perspective for a moment. Household pets and deer actually pose a far great threat to humans than bears. Let's put it in perspective. According to Washington State University, approximately two Americans are killed each year by grizzly bear. But on average, moos kills six people every year; dog attacks are responsible for 18 deaths; bee stings are responsible for 40 deaths a year; while 140 people die in car crashes involving deer. We found this interesting: Pet ferrets are responsible for four deaths every year. Well, who knew.
From attack of the bears, we turn to, well, "March of the Penguins" -- emperor penguins to be exact. They are the stars of a mesmerizing new documentary that gives us a pretty astonishing look at the penguins' yearly journey across Antarctica. Their crossing is full of hope and heartbreak. It's a really fascinating movie you should see. Unfortunately, none of the emperor penguins could join us tonight, but I was able to get an exclusive with two -- two other penguins, Pete and Penny. They were accompanied by Ginny Bush, from -- spokesperson for Seaworld Busch Gardens. I spoke with them earlier. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: OK, so these are male and female. Which is which? Because they're hard to tell.
GINNY BUSH, SEAWORLD BUSCH GARDENS: I have the male, you have the female. This is Pete and Penny Penguin from Seaworld.
COOPER: Why is it so difficult to tell whether they are male or female?
BUSH: Well, these guys generally are not sexually dimorphic, which means you can tell that just from eye. They don't have different colors like some birds. These guys have to be DNA-sexed.
COOPER: And they don't have any like, low-hanging appendages?
BUSH: No, it's all internal. The males are generally larger (INAUDIBLE). There are temperate species of penguin. So sometimes you can tell. And you can obviously tell when they -- they copulate. The males will be on top, and the females will be on the bottom, so that is a good guess. But you do have to do DNA samples.
COOPER: And they're monogamous.
BUSH: For the most part, they are monogamous. Most penguins are. There are 17 species, and for the most part, they do of course...
COOPER: I'm not sure why I'm dwelling so much on the sexual life of penguins, by the way, but go ahead.
BUSH: If one of -- their mate dies, or they can't find them the next season when they're mating, then they will choose another female or male.
COOPER: But they would go season to season with the same person?
BUSH: They will, yeah.
COOPER: I mean, with the same penguin?
BUSH: Yeah.
COOPER: That's interesting. And how big do they -- and they feel so unusual. It's not what I would imagine a penguin to have felt like.
BUSH: They're very dense, they're very muscular. They can swim up to 20 miles underwater.
COOPER: They're like a little football.
BUSH: It's amazing. They are.
COOPER: You just want to toss them.
BUSH: They're flippers -- these are flippers instead of wings, even though they're birds. They very dense bones, unlike a flighted bird, who flies in the air -- they're hollow -- these guys are more dense, so that they can sink down in the water.
COOPER: And where do these ones live? Because the ones in the movie, "March of the Penguins," which I loved, they're from Antarctica, or they live there?
BUSH: Yes, they are the most extreme species. They can withstand temperatures of up to 70 degrees negative Fahrenheit.
These guys are from Chile and Argentina, and they can withstand temperatures of 80 degrees Fahrenheit. They go in the very cool water off of South America to keep cool, and they burrow in the ground. So that's how they keep cool.
COOPER: They burrow under their own poop.
BUSH: They do. Under their guano. Which is being harvested.
COOPER: Stop using these technical terms. I like poop.
BUSH: It's a great word, though. It's being harvested for fuel, so that's another conservation method.
COOPER: And what's the biggest misconception, I guess, about penguins?
BUSH: Oh, God, that's a great question. You know, they're so human-like, I think people attach lots of humanistic behaviors to them. But of course, they are birds. They walk bipedally, they walk upright.
COOPER: And this is an idiotic question. Why don't they fly?
BUSH: Well, because they fly through the water. They can't fly, because they have dense bones, and unlike an ostrich can't fly -- there are quite a few flightless birds -- but they fly through the water. That's what we always talk about.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: And there are the penguins.
Coming up next on 360, bad birthday for Madonna. What was supposed to be a day of celebration turned into a nasty fall that left the singer with several broken bones. We'll have the latest on her condition. Also tonight, sun worship for some people -- well, a new study says you can actually become addicted to suntanning. Is that true? We're going to take a look with 360 MD Sanjay Gupta.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, I don't know about you, but it seems like every day a new study comes out with something new that you can be addicted to. Now, researchers at the University of Texas say that 53 percent of people who suntan on a regular basis may actually be addicted to suntanning, addicted to the sun. Is that actually possible? We wanted to find out, so we brought in 360 MD Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay, what do you make of this? Is this true?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it could be, Anderson. Interesting study here, and you're right, there are a lot of addictions out there. Addiction to sun is something that people have generally known about, but had a harder time defining. Here's how some people that we talked to today put it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The people I know who go tanning tan a lot and they look tanned all the time, even if it's like January.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I go once a week. I like just to maintain a bit of color, look a little healthy without looking, you know, like a snowballs.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It improves your confidence, I think. It makes you like feel like you look better.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it gives you a brighter smile too.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: It can even give you a better smile too they say. Look, some researchers from the University of Texas wanted to put this to the test, to find out if you can actually have such a thing as addiction to the sun. They came up with this questionnaire, a rather elaborate questionnaire, 17 questions.
Let me show you a couple of them that they asked sunbathers on this beach in Galveston to try and figure out whether or not they were addicted. A couple of the questions -- are you -- do you get annoyed when told not to tan? Do you think of it first thing in the morning?. Do you believe that you can get skin cancer, and if so, does it keep you from tanning?
These are some of the questions -- similar questions they actually asked people who are concerned about alcoholism or addicted to cigarettes. What they found interestingly was that over half the people in this particular study actually qualified on the basis of this questionnaire, as actually having a true addiction to the sun, Anderson. COOPER: But how can you be addicted to something that's not a substance, like a drug or an alcohol. I mean, we're talking about light.
GUPTA: Right, so interesting question. The way you actually figure out whether someone has an addiction, you actually look and see is there a psychological component? Is there a physical component to it as well?
The psychological component, for example, you know, it makes me feel better. I feel like I look better after I get some sun. That's easier to understand, but also a physical component to it, something that actually causes addiction. When you get sunlight, it could actually release these endorphins in your bloodstream, actually making you feel better, and therefore people are more likely to become addicted to it.
COOPER: So if someone thinks they have a problem, is there help out there for them?
GUPTA: Well, not really yet, because this is sort of a new thing, people actually looking at addiction to the sun, but it was sort of interesting to try and figure out if you do have a problem, you're someone who has had a history of skin cancer, for example, and you're still out in the sun, you may want to consider getting some help.
COOPER: All right. Sanjay Gupta, thanks.
GUPTA: Thank you.
COOPER: Erica Hill from "HEADLINE NEWS" joins us with the day's top stories. Erica, what's going on?
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Hey Anderson. It's definitely one of the top stories around CNN, I know that. A computer worm rocking the U.S. and now we're learning other parts of the world. You may have heard about this. It already hit CNN. We've been -- it's reported to have computers down at ABC, "The New York Times," even on Capitol Hill in Washington.
Computers reportedly, as we mentioned, crashing as far away as Germany and Asia. It's still not exactly clear what type of worm actually caused the problem. It could be a new one, we're learning. Most of these problems though do seem to be happening on computers that are running Microsoft's Windows 2000. That's the operating system.
Microsoft Windows 2000, it was the predecessor to XP, so if you're running 2000, and you're having a problem, you'll know why. We're going to keep following, and I know, Anderson, you'll have a little bit more on this story on 360 in just a few minutes.
In other news, a strong earthquake striking northeastern Japan. It injured 39 people, triggering a small tsunami. The 7.2 quake hit at 11:46 a.m. local time. Fortunately, for the most part it only caused minor damage, the good news there.
Meanwhile, outside London, England, talk about a sour birthday for Madonna, not exactly the way you want to spend it. The pop star fell from a horse at her country house. She cracked three ribs, broke her collarbone and a hand. The injuries though weren't too serious. She was treated at a hospital and released today. In case you're keeping track by the way, the material girl is now 47 and looking darn good.
And in New York, you can leave on the P as in P. Diddy. No more P, just Diddy, thank you very much. It turns out that today he says he just wants to be known as Diddy. So Anderson, I hope you're updating the rolodex or palm pilot or wherever you're keeping the information.
COOPER: Whoa (oh) it's -- the most surreal thing about this is, I happened to be watching "The Today Show" this morning, he went on the show to make this announcement. And it was treated like oh, it was a big deal.
HILL: Well, you know, I mean, every time I change my name I announce it on Anderson Cooper 360.
COOPER: He said apparently that the P was getting between him and the fans.
HILL: That's no good.
COOPER: You know how that works, you know? I know.
HILL: You know, I mean, you just want to be at one with the fans. That's why you gave up your P right ...
COOPER: I gave up the P as a child. Yes.
HILL: That's right.
COOPER: It was between me and fans. That P just gets in the way, and keeps knocking into them.
HILL: You're a good man. You're a good man.
COOPER: Oh Erica thanks. See you again in about 30 minutes. 360 next, the latest on that computer worm attack. See if your computer is vulnerable. We'll probably get the latest from our technology correspondent, Daniel Sieberg. Try to find out if he knows what's going on with that. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK):
COOPER: We want to get you up to date right now on a developing story about this computer virus -- computer worm I should say -- that has -- well it's hit us here at CNN and "The New York Times," ABC, a number of places, even a little bit on Capitol Hill from early reports. About three hours ago, practically all the computers across the network went down. Not just us, a lot of others throughout the nation and the world had been affected. Daniel Sieberg, our technology correspondent checks in with us. Daniel, what's the latest?
DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, this is a very fast-moving story, and essentially a very quick-moving internet work, and potentially very serious as well. You mentioned the companies that have been affected by this. CNN -- we started noticing this this afternoon. People's computers were basically rebooting constantly and no one could use their computer. Now that's frustrating for certain companies like CNN and others.
We've heard that ABC, "The New York Times," certain computers at the Senate on Capitol Hill, we believe Caterpillar the construction company was also hit, so computers going off and on are frustrating for a lot of people, but beyond that, there the potential that this computer work could allow remote access to somebody who could get into these systems.
And that's where the very serious nature of this comes in. What we're talking about here -- I was trying to avoid some technical terms. This is a computer worm that essentially sends itself out over the internet looking for a particular vulnerability or hole to infect.
What we're hearing from security experts is that Windows 200 operating systems and some Windows XP systems are vulnerable to this particular worm. It sends itself out, so it's really replicating itself very quickly. It's hit a number of these companies this afternoon. More of them could happen tonight and also the overnight hours internationally and tomorrow morning as well, Anderson.
COOPER: Daniel, I'm glad we have you on staff because I have no idea what you're talking about. But you make it sound very logical and make it make sense. I appreciate it Daniel. Thanks very much.
A programming note for you. 360 is going to be live from Crawford, Texas tomorrow, looking at the latest on the demonstrations there and also, really looking at the movement around the United States, the people who are opposed to what Cindy Sheehan has been doing in Crawford, and also those who support her. We're going to ask people on all sides of the debate their thoughts about what is happening in Iraq.
Well, we'll have a lot more from Crawford tomorrow. We also want to know what you happen to think about it. You can send us an e-mail about what Cindy Sheehan is doing -- cnn.com/360. Click on the instant feedback link. We'll also have a phone number there. You can call us, 1-866-NYAC360. Leave us a message with your thoughts, your opinions, pro or con, and we'll play some of them tomorrow during the broadcast. Our prime time coverage continues right now though, from New York, with Paul Zahn.
Hey Paula.
END
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