Overview

• The Arkansas State Crime Lab labeled the death an animal mauling and an accident, with DNA testing pending to determine whether a bear was responsible.
• Deputies found the 60-year-old Missouri man several yards from his Sam’s Throne campsite near Mt. Judea on Oct. 2 after his son requested a welfare check.
• The campsite showed evidence of a struggle and drag marks into the woods, and the victim had injuries consistent with a large-carnivore attack, officials said.
• Two days earlier, the man sent his family photos of what authorities describe as a young male bear at his camp.
• The U.S. Forest Service closed the recreation area as state and local teams deploy traps, cameras, tracking dogs and hunters to locate a suspect bear, warning the public not to pursue it and saying any captured animal may be euthanized for testing; if confirmed, it would be Arkansas’s second fatal bear mauling in about a month.