An elderly Arkansas man was left seriously injured after he was mauled by a black bear in the state’s first attack in decades.
The victim, 72-year-old Vernon Patton, was riding a tractor near Mulberry Mountain in Ozark at the time of the attack on Wednesday afternoon, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission spokesperson Keith Stephens told USA Today.
Patton was found suffering from major injuries, including “severe cuts and puncture wounds to his head and arms,” Stephens said.
The bear was “in the process of attacking him” when Patton’s son showed up and started throwing rocks at the bear, the Arkansas Times reported.
“It actually kind of charged at [Patton’s son] one time” before running away, Stephens said.
By the time wildlife officials arrived, Patton had been airlifted to a nearby medical center, where he underwent surgery before he was taken to a hospital, officials said.
“It was a pretty severe attack,” Stephens said. “It attacked him on his face, his arms, his upper body.”
Wildlife officials stated that the young male bear, weighing approximately 70 pounds, remained nearby after the attack.
“[Officers] saw the bear in the area and it wasn’t very far from where the attack had taken place,” Stephens said. “So they went over, the bear climbed a tree, and they put it down.”
Stephens said the bear had to be shot and killed due to the nature of the attack.
“If we have an animal that attacked a human being, you’ve got to put it down,” he said. “You can’t have that happening again.”
Bear attacks are exceptionally rare in Arkansas — the last bear attack Stephens said he was aware of happened in the 19th century.
“We don’t have records back that far,” he said, noting, “there are some news articles that talk about bear attacks in the 1850s. I’ve been here 25 years and we haven’t had one.”
Officials have sent samples collected from the bear to the Arkansas Department of Agriculture’s Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory and the Arkansas Department of Health to test for distemper and rabies, both highly contagious.
Authorities have not been able to piece together what may have caused the attack. Game wardens are investigating.
“There was nobody there to see this, so we’re trying to put the pieces together,” he said. “That’s the million-dollar question.”
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