A 72-year-old man critically injured in a rare bear attack remained hospitalized on Friday, Sept. 5, after being mauled in rural northwest Arkansas, a state wildlife official said.
The mauling took place about 36 hours earlier in Franklin County and marked the first known bear attack in the state in a quarter century, Arkansas Game and Fish Commisssion (AGFC) spokesperson Keith Stephens told USA TODAY.
The horrific encounter occurred as the senior rode a tractor near Mulberry Mountain along State Highway 23, also known as Pig Trail Scenic Byway, reported AGFC, the agency that responded to the scene.
Stephens said wildlife officials found Vernon Patton, of Ozark, a city about 120 miles northwest of Little Rock, suffering from major injuries including “severe cuts and puncture wounds to his head and arms.”
Victim had been working on his tractor on gravel road
According to the agency, officials learned a black bear attacked Patton as he worked with his tractor on a gravel road.
Patton’s son, who witnessed the mauling, found his father being attacked by a yearling male black bear weighing about 70 pounds.
Patton was transported to Washington Regional in Fayetteville for surgery that day and later moved to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Medical Center in Little Rock, Stephens said.
Game wardens responded to the scene and fatally shot the animal, officials said.
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Bear being tested for rabies, distemper
Samples collected from the bear was sent to the Arkansas Department of Agriculture’s Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory and Arkansas Department of Health to test for distemper and rabies.
Both viruses are highly contagious and often fatal to mammals, like dogs and racoons, according to information from the Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine and American Veterinary Medical Association. While rabies can spread to humans, distemper does not.
Test results were expected by early next week, Stephens said.
Wildlife officials were reminding people hiking in rural areas with dogs to keep them leashed and make sure their animals are up to date on their vaccines.
“This incident is highly unusual, as there have been no documented bear attacks on humans in Arkansas in at least 25 years,” Stephens said.
Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Man on tractor mauled, critically injured in bear attack in Arkansas
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