A missing hiker in Glacier National Park appears to have been killed by a bear in what could be the first fatal bear encounter in the park in nearly 30 years.
Anthony Pollio, 33, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was reported missing Monday after he didn’t return from a hike on the west side of Glacier Park the previous day, according to park officials. The last known contact with Pollio had been Sunday at about 8:20 p.m., when he messaged someone that he was hiking toward the Mt. Brown Fire Lookout. His car was later found near the Lake McDonald Lodge.
Pollio’s remains were found Wednesday at noon, about 50 feet off the Mt. Brown Trail in a heavily wooded area. In a press release, park officials said the man’s injuries were “consistent with those sustained by a bear encounter.”
As a result of the apparent attack, trails on the east side of Lake McDonald — including those to the Mt. Brown Lookout, Snyder Lake Campground, Sperry Chalet, and Lincoln Lake Campground — have been closed while rangers assess the area for bear activity. In the past, bears that have attacked humans in the park have been euthanized.
If this week’s fatality is confirmed to have been an attack, it would be the first fatal bear encounter in Glacier since May 1998, when a man was killed while hiking the Scenic Point Trail in the Two Medicine Valley. Since 1967, there have been 10 fatal bear attacks in Glacier National Park. The most infamous was in August 1967, when two different bears killed two different women on the same night, miles apart from each other.
Earlier this week, two hikers in Yellowstone National Park were seriously injured in an apparent bear attack on a trail near Old Faithful in Wyoming.
Numerous agencies cooperated in the search and rescue and recovery operations Wednesday in Glacier, including Flathead County Search and Rescue, North Valley Search and Rescue, Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks, Minuteman Aviation, Civil Air Patrol, Montana Army National Guard, Flathead County Sheriff’s Office, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Wildland Fire Service, Montana Disaster and Emergency Services, U.S. Geological Survey, ALERT, Border Patrol, Malmstrom Air Force Base, U.S. Air Force Rescue and NPS staff.
Glacier Park often encourages visitors to be “bear aware.” Hikers should make noise, carry bear spray and, if possible, travel in a group. Researchers estimate that nearly 1,000 bears live in the park.
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