The family of a man mauled by a grizzly bear outside Yellowstone National Park is sharing new details through a GoFundMe account.
The daughter of the victim identified the victim as Rudy Noorlander. She says Noorlander owns and operates Alpine Adventures in Big Sky, Montana. Noorlander was assisting a group of hunters he rented ATVs to in Custer Gallatin National Forest. That’s when he saw a smaller grizzly bear and took out his firearms to scare the animal off, but another larger grizzly pounced on him before he could do that.
According to the post, the bear left a large scratch on Noorlander’s chest, bit his arm and legs, and had his lower jaw torn off. Fortunately, the nearby hunters were able to scare the bear off and called for help. It still took two hours to have Noorlander flown to a nearby hospital. Officials later transported him to another hospital in Utah for additional care.
His family says Noorlander is a Navy Veteran. Still, even with his VA insurance, he has had multiple surgeries and will need more, so they created the GoFundMe for his extensive medical bills.
This incident is the second attack in Custer Gallatin National Forest this year. The one from earlier this summer left one woman dead. Wildlife officials have not located the bears involved in either attack.
Learn more about bear safety.
