Overview

• Vernon Patton, 72, died Sept. 14 after being mauled on Sept. 3 near Mulberry Mountain in Franklin County.
• He was spreading gravel on a road when his son arrived to find him under attack and attempted to drive the bear off by throwing rocks.
• Game wardens located a roughly 70-pound yearling male black bear near the scene and fatally shot it.
• Patton was airlifted to Washington Regional for surgery, later transferred to UAMS in Little Rock, then moved to hospice in Springdale before his death.
• AGFC describes the attack as highly unusual with no documented bear attacks on people in Arkansas in at least 25 years, and investigators are continuing necropsy and additional testing to understand the cause.