A California hiker who survived a grizzly bear attack in Glacier National Park says he knows he’s lucky. San Diego’s Daniel Crago was finishing a week of hiking on Montana’s Grinnell Glacier Trail on May 28 when he spotted a bear cub off the path—then realized a much larger grizzly was just above him on a snowy slope, about 15 feet away, per NBC News. Crago says he tried to follow bear-encounter guidance by speaking calmly to alert the animal, but once they locked eyes, it charged. The grizzly leaped, clamped down on his raised arm instead of his face, and dragged him some 20 feet before letting go.
Two nearby hikers—one a doctor—stabilized Crago until he was airlifted out. “I looked down at my arm, and my hand was just kind of dangling,” the 32-year-old tells the Los Angeles Times. “The forearm was completely open, and both bones completely broken,” he adds, per NBC, but major nerves and arteries were spared; he has undergone multiple surgeries and expects at least one more, but “I’m honestly grateful I still have an arm.” Despite the attack, he says he still loves the outdoors and views it as the bear’s territory. A fundraiser for his medical costs has raised more than half of a $60,000 goal, with any extra pledged to the National Park Service. (Another bear attack at the park last month proved fatal.)
