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(NEXSTAR) – A Florida man reported missing after he failed to return from a trek to watch the sunset in Glacier National Park this year died of a surprise bear attack, an interagency report has determined.
Anthony Pollio, 33, of Davie, Florida, died in early May. Rangers said at the time that a bear attack may have been to blame, and an investigation from the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee has since confirmed that was the case.
The Board of Review report, first reported on by the Billings Gazette and SFGate, detailed Pollio’s final moments and his apparent interaction with an adult male grizzly bear. Pollio’s death marked the first fatal bear attack in Glacier National Park since 1998, and happened just weeks before a California man would survive a bear attack on a nearby trail.
Pollio had been on a multi-day road trip when he entered Glacier National Park in Montana on May 3, the IGBC report explained. At around 6:30 p.m., Pollio began hiking to the Mt. Brown Lookout. Roughly two hours later, Pollio told his girlfriend via text message that he had climbed more than 2,000 feet with roughly 2,400 feet to go before he reached the lookout, where he intended to watch the sunset.
It would be his last known communication, the IGBC determined.
The next afternoon, Glacier National Park officials were alerted that Pollio was overdue, prompting a multi-day search by land and air.
On May 6, three days after Pollio arrived in the park, a search team found his remains nearly 70 feet below the Mt. Brown trail, roughly 2.5 miles from the trailhead.
Pollio had suffered “extensive trauma to the left side of his head and face,” with “a shallow claw slash mark” on his neck and “numerous bite marks” on his torso and thighs, the IGBC report said. His ear was also found feet from his body.
Nearby, authorities found “claw marks on a burned tree and a displaced stone,” which they believe indicates the bear may have “launched its attack from” there. An empty can of bear spray was also located by investigators.
Pollio, hiking in low light or darkness on a trail littered with deadfall trees, is believed to have surprised the grizzly bear, and the pair may not have seen each other “until they were very close,” per the IGBC. He likely discharged all of his bear spray “during the initial assault” before he “tumbled down slope, probably while the bear continued its attack.”
Officials surmised the bear paused its attack, allowing Pollio to climb back up about 18 feet before it “re-engaged and killed Mr. Pollio with crushing bites to the head.”
“The attack was likely brief and intense and not prolonged,” the report detailed, adding that Pollio “appears to have been the victim of a defensive attack by a surprised grizzly bear.”
DNA samples suggest the bear, at least 15 years old, is “a life-long resident of the park and does not have a conflict history, capture history, or known history of aggression towards people.” The IGBC did not detail any bear management efforts taken against the grizzly, but authorities encouraged hikers and visitors to the park to remain bear aware.
More than a dozen trails in Glacier National Park are marked as having known bear activity.
National Park officials have been warning visitors of bears at multiple parks this year amid increased activity. Around the time of Pollio’s death, two hikers were injured by a bear in Yellowstone National Park.
Few of the more than 200 deaths reported in the national parks last year involved wildlife.
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