Man Fishing Alone Is Mauled by a Grizzly

Carl Mock died a couple days later
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 19, 2021 3:40 PM CDT
Man Fishing Near Yellowstone Dies Days After Grizzly Mauling
This undated photo provided by the US Fish and Wildlife Service shows a grizzly bear.   (Joe Lieb/USFWS via AP)

A backcountry guide who was mauled by a grizzly bear on Thursday just outside Yellowstone National Park has died. "This comes as a terrible shock and is heartbreaking to everyone, since both the surgeries went so well," read a Saturday update in a GoFundMe campaign started for Carl Mock. The 40-year-old had been transported to the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls after the attack, which occurred as he was fishing solo in a wooded area along the Madison River just north of West Yellowstone, Montana. Though the AP reports Mock's scalp and facial injuries were severe, he managed to call for help and was found just under an hour later. The Billings Gazette reported he died Saturday after suffering a massive stroke.

Officials believe Mock was likely attacked by a bear who was defending his adjacent food source. Investigators went to the scene Friday and were repeatedly charged at by a male grizzly. The bear was ultimately shot and killed, and a moose carcass was discovered about 150 feet from where Mock was mauled. He was carrying bear spray, and the safety tab had been removed, but officials are not sure if Mock had been able to use it. Mock was a guide with Backcountry Adventures, which provides snowmobile tours in Yellowstone. The GoFundMe campaign, which will now be used for funeral costs and medical bills, has raised nearly $30,000 as of this writing. (More grizzly bear stories.)

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