The investigation into Anthony Pollio’s death in Glacier National Park is close coming to a close. Glacier National Park chief ranger Katy Anderson told the crowd at the North Fork Interlocal last week that a board of review is working on a final report that will be published in the federal register.

Park officials say Pollio, 33, from Davie, Florida was hiking the Mount Brown Lookout Trail on Sunday, May 3 when he was attacked by a bear. 

When Pollio failed to return from the hike, a search was commenced and his body was found May 6, about 2.5 miles from the trailhead and about 50 feet off the trail. 

Park officials have not released the species of bear, but black bear attacks are rare in Glacier. 

Shortly after the incident, park officials said they thought it was a surprise encounter. Pollio had previously noted that he wanted to go to the Mount Brown Lookout and watch the sunset. 

The trail itself is one of the steepest in Glacier, with numerous switchbacks. Speculation is that Pollio likely was coming down the trail at or near dark when he encountered the bear. 

Hiking after dark, especially when alone, is not recommended in Glacier. 

Pollio was an avid outdoorsman, his family said. 

Anderson said that Glacier is also almost done with another report on a separate attack that happened in Many Glacier. 

On May 28, Daniel Crago, 32, of San Diego, California was bitten by a grizzly while hiking the Grinnell Glacier Trail. 

He said he was crossing a snowfield when something caught his eye to his left. He said he saw a cub grizzly. The bear had passed him and was walking away. He then spotted a second bear just 15 feet away and it charged him. He went to cover his head with his arm when the bear grabbed it and dragged home down the slope, flipping him. 

The bear let go and ran off into the trees.  

He said he looked down and his hand was dangling from his arm and he was bleeding. 

The Park Service has previously said that, too, was likely a surprise encounter since Crago was near a waterfall and couldn’t hear the bears. 

Fellow hikers gave Crago medical care and then park staff arrived and he was airlifted by the ALERT helicopter to Logan Health for treatment of his injuries. 

No action was taken against either bear. Grizzly bear encounters and even bites and scratches are not uncommon in Glacier, but deaths are. 

The last bear fatality in Glacier was in 1998 when Craig Dahl was killed by a sow grizzly known as chocolate legs near Appistoki Falls. Chocolate legs was a food-habituated bear, meaning she had received food rewards from people. She was later shot and killed by rangers. 

The last local human-bear fatality was outside of Glacier. 

Flathead National Forest law enforcement ranger Brad Treat was killed by a grizzly on June 29, 2016 while mountain biking in West Glacier. 

In that case, Treat ran into the bear on his bicycle and it attacked and killed him. 

Bears are common in the Mount Brown-Sperry-Gunsight Pass Trail area. The Sperry Chalet Complex is currently posted for bears frequenting the area.