Craig Clouatre: GRIZZLY BEAR kills father-of-four during hike near Yellowstone National Park
A father-of-four tragically died in a suspected grizzly bear attack during a hike in a Montana national park.
Investigators from the Park County Search and Rescue team discovered 40-year-old Craig Clouatre's remains near Yellowstone National Park on Friday, March 25. Clouatre reportedly disappeared after going for a hike in the Six Mile Creek area of Paradise Valley on Wednesday, March 23. The hiker's death was confirmed in a statement by Park County Sheriff Brad Bichler on Saturday, March 26. Clouatre leaves behind his wife Jamie and their four children. A GoFundMe for the family had raised nearly $59,000 at the time of publication.
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"It is with a very heavy heart that I am writing this update. After an extensive search this morning we have located Craig," Bichler wrote. "It appears he had an encounter with a grizzly and unfortunately did not survive. Please keep his family and all those involved in your thoughts and prayers," he further wrote.
Seach teams assisted by helicopters scoured the area after Clouatre failed to return from hiking Wednesday morning. According to The Livingston Enterprise, he had gone with a friend possibly to hunt for antlers, but the pair split up at some point. "They split up at some point later in the morning. When the other man returned to their vehicle and his friend wasn't there, he called us and we began searching Wednesday night," Bichler explained.
Search efforts were focused on the Six Mile Creek area of the Absaroka Mountains, about 30 miles south of Livingston, Montana. "We're fortunate to have a group of experienced volunteers on our SAR [Search and Rescue] team and we're thankful for the folks who have come to help," Bichler told the newspaper. The Park County Sheriff later revealed in a social media post that they were working to return Clouatre's body to his family on Friday.
Speaking to the Associated Press, Clouatre's father David said his son grew up in Massachusetts and moved to Montana more than two decades ago. There, he met his future wife Jamie and the two made a home together. "He was a joy to have as a son all the way around," the devastated father said, adding, "He was a good man, a good, hardworking family man."
Meanwhile, Clouatre's widow Jamie bemoaned on Facebook how she will have to "relearn how to be and who I am... for our kids." She wrote, "I don't have many words really right now and I'm not reaching back out to everyone who has reached out to me...but I appreciate every one of the sentiments and memories of the most amazing person I have ever known, my husband." The grieving wife continued, "I loved him with every single fiber of me....he was a vital part of me and our children and it is going to be a struggle for the rest of our lives. To say we are broken is an understatement. I have to relearn how to be who I am and stay strong enough for our kids. No easy way to put it, this is not fair, they don't deserve this."
"The support in this community is incredible and I know it comes from Craig...who he was, a joy, a truly kind, good, GOOD man. There is no one else like him in the entire world. Thank you all for everything! We all lost something and the world is a hell of a lot dimmer," she further added.
The mountains where Clouatre died rise steeply above the Yellowstone River as it passes Paradise Valley. He loved to hike in the area during summer and climb the ice in winter when he wasn't home with his family, his friend Anne Tanner said. Her restaurant reportedly held a benefit for the Clouatre family after their house burned down two years ago. "He was finally just getting their house together," Tanner told AP. "It just makes me angry that something like this could happen to such a good person...Of all the men I know, I can't believe he would die in the wilderness. He was so strong and he was so smart."
Grizzlies in the Yellowstone region have killed at least eight people since 2010, according to the Daily Mail.