A 60-year-old man who was found dead at an Arkansas campground Thursday was likely killed by a black bear, according to officials in Newton County. In a statement issued Wednesday, the Newton County Sheriff’s Office said it was still awaiting autopsy results to determine the man’s cause of death, but that a preliminary investigation led them to believe a bear was responsible.
“Until the Arkansas Crime Lab completes the autopsy, we can’t one hundred percent say it was a bear, but everything strongly indicates it,” Sheriff Glen Wheeler said. “We know without a doubt that a bear was in camp with our victim and the injuries absolutely are consistent with a bear attack.”
Wheeler added that it was a “highly unusual case,” and that they will update the public on the full findings of their investigation when complete. Officials have not released the identity of the man, who was visiting the state from Missouri.
Wheeler explained in the statement that the sheriff’s office had gotten a call from the man’s son on Thursday. He said that his father was camping at Sam’s Throne but hadn’t checked in for a couple days. When officers arrived, the man was not in his camp. They found his body several yards outside the campsite.
“The campsite had been disturbed and there was evidence of a struggle and injury,” the statement reads. “There were also drag marks leading from the campground into the woods.”
Officials also learned after talking with the man’s family that he had sent them pictures of a bear in his camp Tuesday morning. The photos showed what appeared to be a younger male black bear.
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The U.S. Forest Service has closed Sam’s Throne Campground, which is located in the Ozark-St. Francis National Forest south of Mt. Judea. This was done for the safety of the public, and to allow wildlife officials to look for the bear and potentially set traps for it. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission is supporting these efforts, according to Sheriff Wheeler, who also contacted local hunters who own bear dogs to potentially assist with the search. (Hunting bears with dogs is illegal in Arkansas, but it is in other states.)
If the attack is confirmed, this would be the second fatal black bear attack to take place in Arkansas in a month. The previous incident, which took place near Mulberry Mountain in Franklin county on Sept. 3, involved a man in his seventies who was working on his tractor on the side of a gravel road. His son witnessed the attack and helped get the bear off him, but the man later died in the hospital from his injuries.
At the time, officials with AGFC called the fatal bear attack “unheard of.” They said it was the first confirmed bear attack in the state in at least 25 years.
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