Newton County Sheriff Glenn Wheeler says a bear killed Sunday is believed to be the same bear that mauled a man to death last week. The sheriff has identified the victim as 60-year-old Max Thomas of Springfield.
Wheeler says on Sunday a bear was photographed in Sam’s Throne Campground, just a few yards from where the victim was attacked. Arkansas Game and Fish personnel, along with personnel from the Newton County Sheriff’s Office, looked at the photos and determined the bear appeared to be the same bear photographed by the victim, and encountered by another man at a roadside overlook just outside the campground in September.
Local hunters were called and brought hounds to where the bear was photographed. The dogs began trailing the bear, treeing it shortly afterward. Sheriff Wheeler and an Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Employee accompanied the hunters in pursuing the bear. After the bear was treed by the dogs, the hunters, Sheriff Wheeler and Arkansas Game and Fish personnel were able to get a better look at the bear and determine there was an extremely high probability it was the same bear.
As soon as the bear was shot and brought out of the area, it was transported to Little Rock so officials can perform a necropsy and begin other testing on the bear, including attempting to obtain DNA samples to match to the victim.
Sheriff Glenn Wheeler says “I feel extremely confident this is the bear we have photographs of from the scene of the attack. We knew the bear in the photos was a male and this one is too. It matches the size of the photographed bear and has the same facial colorations. Not to mention it was back in the same area where the attack happened. That area is heavily used by humans that most bears will avoid it. To be 100 percent certain, we will have to wait on possible DNA matches, but all indications are that this is the bear responsible for the fatal attack.”
The sheriff continued “We are getting some pushback from a small minority of people who feel the bear should not have been killed as a result of this. To those people I would say that, while it is unfortunate that it had to end that way, human life is vastly more important and public safety takes priority. Bears that attack humans are dangerous and will continue to pose a threat. Our victim had a family, a soul and many loved ones. Thank God his family has some resolution to this nightmare and thank God, the public is safer.”
Sam’s Throne Campground and the surrounding area continue to be closed as there are still traps and other equipment in the area. It will remain closed pending DNA results to be certain the threat is gone.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI