A California man said he was dragged 20-30 feet by a grizzly before it finally let him go in an attack he sustained late last month in Glacier National Park.
The report of the attack, which up until now has been scant of specifics, has turned vivid with Daniel Crago discussing the blow-by-blow of his bear encounter on a GoFundMe page.
Crago says he was on his last day of a hiking trip when he peeled away from his friend to “take in some views.”
That’s when he spotted a “smaller” grizzly.
Then the worst thing happened: he spotted a larger grizzly.
“I did as you’re told, I alerted the bear,” he said, which was about 15 feet away.
That did no good.
“At that point, I was so close it likely frightened the bear,” he said. “As soon as it saw me, it charged down and attacked me.”
“I threw my arm up, it bit my arm, dragged me about 20-30 feet, and took off,” he said in the post.
“I could see my hand, and it was just dangling there,” he told Fox 5 TV in San Diego.
The National Park Service said park employees believe that loud rushing water made it difficult for the hiker or the bears to detect each other.
Rescue
Calling the experience “terrifying,” Crago said he was fortunate in that a pediatrician was in the area who was able to stabilize the arm while another hiker made noises in an attempt to keep the bears from coming back.
The bears did not return.
Another hiker, he said, alerted emergency services and a helicopter airlifted him to nearby hospital in Kalispell.
He’s had three surgeries so far, he said, and is expecting at least one more.
"I am facing significant medical bills from the treatment and care I received," he said. "The costs are overwhelming, and I am reaching out for help to cover these expenses so I can continue my recovery."
Be Careful
Retired ecologist Chuck Neal of Cody, who frequently hikes solo in grizzly country, told Cowboy State Daily that hiking in Glacier Park demands extra alertness.
“Encounters can happen at just a few yards away” if hikers aren’t paying keen attention, Neal said.
“It’s a high-quality habitat for bears. It’s better habitat for bears than Yellowstone is” and tends to attract a younger crowd, he said.
“Those younger hikers go barreling up those trails without paying that much attention,” Neal said.
Busy Season For Bear Attacks
Crago’s is the latest of multiple bear encounters with humans in the region so far this season.
Earlier in the month, Glacier Park reported its first fatal bear attack since 1998 when the body of Florida resident Anthony Pollio, 33, was found May 6 two days after he was reported missing.
His body was found about 50 feet from the trail he’d apparently been hiking on.
On the same day Pollio went missing, two brothers were severely hurt when they were attacked by a female grizzly with cubs near Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park.
On May 26, a man running on a trail in British Columbia, Canada, was attacked by a female black bear with two cubs.
Outdoor adventurer Michael Hodges was photographing grizzlies in the Glacier Park backcountry on the day that Pollio’s body was discovered about 15 miles away.
Later, he was on the same trail where the alleged May 28 bear attack was reported.
“I was up on the trail the week of May 6 and saw many grizzlies,” he stated in a text message to Cowboy State Daily last week.
“I warned hikers from California and Texas at the trailhead that there was an unusual number of griz, and to be extra alert,” stated Hodges, a novelist and internet personality.
On May 26, a man running on a trail in British Columbia, Canada, was attacked by a female black bear with two cubs.
Outdoor adventurer Michael Hodges was photographing grizzlies in the Glacier Park backcountry on the day that Pollio’s body was discovered about 15 miles away.
Later, he was on the same trail where the alleged May 28 bear attack was reported.
“I was up on the trail the week of May 6 and saw many grizzlies,” he stated in a text message to Cowboy State Daily last week.
“I warned hikers from California and Texas at the trailhead that there was an unusual number of griz, and to be extra alert,” stated Hodges, a novelist and internet personality.
Jimmy Orr can be reached at jimmy@cowboystatedaily.com.
