Overview

• Victim Vernon Patton was attacked near Mulberry Mountain along Highway 23 in Franklin County while working on a tractor.
• Patton underwent surgery at Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville and was later transferred to UAMS in Little Rock, where he is stable.
• Game wardens fatally shot a yearling male black bear weighing about 70 pounds, and agency specialists completed a necropsy.
• Samples from the bear were sent for DNA and dietary analysis, and the brain was submitted for rabies and distemper testing, with results expected by early next week.
• Officials are investigating whether the encounter was provoked after Patton’s son intervened by throwing rocks and reported the bear briefly charged before fleeing.