"Darkness and deadfall on the trail would have prevented the bear and Mr. Pollio from seeing each other until they were very close.... The attack was likely brief and intense and not prolonged. There was no consumption or caching of the victim by the bear.... Mr. Pollio appears to have been the victim of a defensive attack by a surprised grizzly bear."
July 27, 2026
"He said he planned to watch the sunset and hike out in the dark, then find a place to camp...."
From "Report Details Fatal Glacier Park Grizzly Bear Attack/An interagency review concluded that Anthony Pollio, a 33-year-old solo hiker from Florida, was killed on May 3 after he surprised an adult male grizzly bear while descending the Mount Brown Lookout trail, likely in" (Flathead Beacon).
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34 comments:
Castle defense: The bear stood his ground.
if a grizzly bear attacks you,
it's (usually) because you've offended him in some way.
if a black bear attacks you..
it's because he wants to EAT you.
this assumes that there are not child bears to protect.
So, the killing was justified?
Years ago...decades maybe, I read an article in Sports Illustrated (I think). This was a detailed article about a grizzly attack on a handful of people at a small campsite in Glacier National Park. The article was so detailed, the attack so gruesome, that it stuck with me. And over the years as I've read about other grizzly attacks in Glacier National Park, I've made a mental note to never- ever- go camping in Glacier National Park. Particularly in the spring. Let the grizzlies have it.
Timijuin is referring to the "night of the grizzlies." 2 women were killed in two separate attacks the same night. This was August 1967. I have hiked the west for 40 years
But I will not home glacier.
If he had been a telephone pole, Florida man would have gotten the better of that bear. Alas, he was just Florida man.
Someone who knows hikers argued that people who cut off part of the handle of their toothbrush to save fractions of an ounce cannot be blamed for not burdening themselves with personal locator beacons, cans of bear spray, or a revolvers chambered in a magnum cartridge. We only hear from the ones who didn’t meet up with bears.
Montana conversation:
"I heard a guy got attacked by a bear in the Park yesterday."
"Who was it?"
"Some guy from out of state."
"Oh, okay. So did you get your roof on?"
"Yeah, Dave came home and we knocked it out. It was kinda fun."
Hiking in the dark is pretty dumb even in non-bear country.
Bears doing bear things.
Joe Rogan had an interesting comparison of Black Bears and Grizzley Bears. A black bear will look at you and wonder if you're another predator. A Grizzley Bear will look at you and wonder what you taste like.
Before anyone with a cell phone camera came along, there was a hiker at the top of that power pole in New Mexico.
If you surprise a grizzly, you aren't making enough noise.
My wife solo hikes, and often does sunrises/sunsets at the summit. But not in grizzly country
In Alaska, the land of conservatives and many huge bears, anyone who happens to kill a bear when hunting non-bears, fishing, camping, or hiking stands to get into huge trouble with the Fish & Game officials. Bears are a known threat, can more often than not be avoided, and they have known breeding (and cub protection) seasons.
Reckless tourists in National Parks are a routine thing. If the selfie on the cliff doesn't get you, if the selfie with a Bison doesn't get you, the bear in the dark may get you.
Guy was about halfway up the mountain at 20:20, and still headed up. I guess he liked the excitement of hiking alone in bear country, at night.
'...A gray Carhartt beanie, a smart phone and charging bank with bear scat on the surface...' The bear comments on the value and utility of modern conveniences.
“Surprised” a Grizzly ?
Now THAT is funny! 😁
“He should’ve called before showing up at my doorstep.”
—— Gus Grizzly
"including a fully discharged can of GrizGuard bear spray," Yeah, uh, bear spray doesn't work on bears. Good to know.
Moral of the story is, don't walk alone at night in grizzly bear country. You can walk up on bears- I've done it to a black bear. Fortunately, it was a black bear. I have no interest at all in encountering a grizzly. In a national park, they're allowed to be there, you don't have to be.
"The attack was likely brief and intense and not prolonged."
Doesn't seem that way to me.
Seems like if he had played dead for awhile instead of getting up, he might have lived.
I have spent quite a bit of time in Alaska dodging grizzlies in search of silver salmon. Quite frankly, it seems to me that, when you are in grizzly country your primary concern should be how to stay safe from the random unfriendly encounter. I have very little sympathy for those who decide to ignore the fact that the grizz is the apex predator and should be treated as such. Every year we see some one die from doing something in the outdoors that they knew not to do. Here we are again. Darwin at work. Condolences to the family.
Bear spray was an apparent temporary deterrent. I’m sorry but if you are going to play games in a grizzly’s back yard, I would carry a .44 magnum with a speed loader.
I always love how they write these articles and mind read the bear. "Oh, don't the bear, he was just surprised". "Oh don't blame the bear, she was just worried about her cubs". "Oh don't blame the bear, there was a food shortage, he would rather have had elk for supper".
Who knows what the bear was thinking? Yes, darkness kept the human from seeing the bear, but bears have a great sense of smell, and probably knew the human was there probably minutes before they interacted.
Yeah, hiking alone in the dark in Grizzley country is not a good idea. Nor is it a good idea in Mountain Lion country. You can hike at night, but you need to go as a group and carry flashlights.
In the dark you cannot see bear tracks, bear poop, bear hair, etc... and you have no clue if there is a bear, or any other wild animal, on the trail. Here in Texas hiking at night in rattle snake country is not wise... and in East Texas lots of copperheads are out at night.. duh... and hiking unarmed in said country is even more ... duh...
But this attacker was an avowed Islamist, not a strapping AFD-leaning German man.
I just bet another $100 on the Bears to win the Super Bowl.
This reminds me of the Times travel article this week about instagrammers soliciting money to pretend to hike through Saudia Arabia in a tank top or Iran and then needing rescue by minimum-wage paid American soldiers for their sheer stupidity. Of course the article glossed over the fact that they are rarely alone, using teams and local guides to protect them. I think the Times should be written by bears for a week. We would all learn more .... Facts.
I think bears are pretty unambiguous, though few of us not in bear country speak their language. All the paws that are fit to print might make up for The New Yorker not being funny anymore.
So many bears are walking into cities in Japan that it's hard to know if "bear spray" is a repellent or the ursine version of Old Spice.
I also used to fish for silver salmon in the Alaska bush country. I always carried a .357 revolver with me for protection. The old timers told me to file the front sight off of the pistol, that way when a bear took the gun away from me and shoved it up my ass it wouldn't hurt so much.
Can’t forget the Ambiguously Gay Bear Duo of Yogi and BooBoo.
That’s why, if I want to see grizzly bears in Glacier National Park, I watch from the observation car of an Amtrak train.
Obviously no sympathy for stupid visitors to the state. FA/FO - play stupid games, and win stupid prizes. Etc.
We’re a bit west of there, And that’s where our local Grizzlies mostly come from. We have them on the north ridge, with wolves on the south one (out of Yellowstone), and us in the valley in between. Plenty of Lack bears everywhere.
I carry a 10 mm G20 with solid cast bear loads. Several companies make them - such as Buffalo Bore in Salmon, ID. You need solid cast bear loads for penetration. Worth thing you can do is carry Self Defense loads, because they expand, and that means they don’t penetrate at all.
I went with the 10 mm G20 for a gear gun, because a .357 Magnum kicks pretty good. Wasn’t going to get a second round on target with one. While the G20 has 15+1 rounds, and I can get many more rounds where I want them. It appears to be the most popular bear handgun in at least MT. Probably WY too. As for bears interested in getting indoors I have a .300 WinMag lever gun behind the front door.
In a text msg group with a dozen of us from 1970 or so. One posted pictures of her two grandkids, in Valdez yesterday. I think that they actually live in Wasilla, and this friend in Fairbanks. In any case, another friend responded:
“ Valdez - Watching the annual STOL competition while Grizzles forage on the hill next to the airport. Cool town.”
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