A San Diego man suffered serious injuries after being attacked and dragged by a grizzly bear while hiking in Montana.
Daniel Crago, 32, described the May 28 incident in an interview with CBS 8 and on the GoFundMe platform, where he is currently raising money for his medical treatment.
“I saw something to my left, a smaller bear cub, but it was already behind me,” Crago told CBS 8 on Friday.
“It kept walking in its direction. It didn’t seem to notice me.”
Then he suddenly found himself face to face with a much larger bear. The encounter occurred in Glacier National Park, home to about 300 grizzly bears.
Crago told his hometown station, “At that moment, I did what I’m taught: warn the bear so I don’t scare it. You make it aware of you. So that’s what I did.”
After trying to warn the animal with a quick “Hey bear! Hey bear!”, the bear charged, he said.
The animal bit him in the right arm with lightning speed, Crago recalled.
Daniel Crago, 32, was seriously injured and nearly dragged to death by a grizzly bear while hiking in Montana last week.
After the attack, the hiker looked at his arm and saw that his hand was “just hanging there,” he said this week. He shared an X-ray of his arm on a GoFundMe page.
“I just thought, ‘That’s it.’ It bit my arm and dragged me maybe six meters,” Crago said.
“I flipped over, landed on my butt, opened my eyes, and the bear kept running down the mountain.”
He looked down at his arm and saw that his hand was “just hanging loose,” he told the hiking website Backpacker.com.
“It was pure panic… I yelled for help and climbed back to the trail.”
Fortunately, some nearby hikers were able to help him stop the bleeding and stabilize his arm.
Crago also told CBS 8 that, by another stroke of luck, “he didn’t injure his wrist or elbow. It was just a complete fracture of the forearm bones.”
He was then airlifted to a hospital in Kalispell, Montana, he said.
After three surgeries, Crago will “need at least one more,” he told potential donors in the description on his GoFundMe page.
Glacier National Park in Montana has the highest grizzly bear density of any national park in the continental United States. It is therefore often called “Bear Country.”
At the time of publication, Crago has raised $22,351 of his $24,000 fundraising goal. He explained that any proceeds exceeding medical expenses will be donated to the National Park Service.
Crago, who lives in San Diego, wrote that the costs so far have been “overwhelming.”
“I am asking for support to cover these expenses so I can continue my recovery without the added burden of financial hardship,” he wrote.
He thanked the hikers who, he said, “saved my life,” as well as friends who visited him at Logan Hospital in Kalispell and the staff there.
“Your kindness and expertise saved my life, and I am eternally grateful. If you can support my fundraising campaign, your generosity will help me get well again.” Thank you for being there for me.
“` “All proceeds exceeding medical costs will be donated to the National Park Service,” he wrote.
Glacier National Park in Montana has the highest density of grizzly bears of any national park on the U.S. mainland. It is therefore often referred to as “Bear Country.”
Park officials advise visitors to be extra vigilant and recommend remaining calm, speaking in a quiet voice, retreating slowly, and avoiding sudden movements if they encounter a bear.
At the time of publication, Crago had raised $22,351 of its $24,000 goal.
