Arkansas authorities have shot and killed a male black bear that they believe fatally mauled a 60-year-old Missouri man last week
JUDEA, Ark. Arkansas officials shot and killed a male black bear that they believe fatally mauled a 60-year-old Missouri man last week at his campsite in the Ozark National Forest, authorities said Monday.
The body of Max Thomas of Springfield, Missouri, was discovered Thursday several yards outside the Sam’s Throne campground in northwest Arkansas, Newton County Sheriff Glenn Wheeler said.
A deputy had gone to the campground after the man’s son reported he had not heard from his father, who had sent his family pictures of a black bear in his camp Tuesday morning, Wheeler said. The deputy found evidence of a struggle and injury, including drag marks from the campground into the woods, the sheriff said.
“We believe he was in the process of breaking down his camp when the attack occurred,” Wheeler said.
