Grandfather Mauled by Black Bear in ‘Unheard of’ Attack Has Died, Arkansas Officials Confirm

Officers with the Arkansas Recreation and Fish Fee say the person who was attacked by a black bear in Franklin County on Sept. 3 has died. The 72-year-old man, recognized as Vernon Patton, handed away within the hospital Sunday because of his accidents, in accordance with AGFC chief of communications Keith Stephens, who confirmed Patton’s passing with local news outlets on Monday.

“It was a reasonably extreme assault,” Stephens instructed the Arkansas Times. “It attacked him on his face, his arms, his higher physique.” 

The tragic replace adopted a public statement from Patton’s household the week prior. On Sept. 10, they mentioned he was nonetheless in intensive care however unlikely to outlive. The household additionally requested for privateness as they labored by way of a very troublesome time.

“Our beloved father, grandfather, husband and hero, Vernon Patton, was severely injured in a bear assault whereas doing what he cherished, engaged on his land along with his household,” their assertion from final week learn. “Vernon is at present being cared for within the ICU in Little Rock. Whereas he stays in steady situation, his accidents are intensive and finally not survivable.”

As reported previously by OL, Patton was engaged on his tractor on the facet of a gravel highway within the Mulberry Mountain space when the black bear attacked him on Sept. 3. His son witnessed the assault and was capable of get the bear off him. First responders airlifted the 72-year-old to a hospital in Fayetteville, and from there he was transferred to the College of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock.

Stephens mentioned on the time that the bear weighed round 70 to 80 kilos and was doubtless a yearling. AGFC officers responded that very same day to the Mulberry Mountain space, the place they shortly positioned the bear and killed it. Wildlife officers then took the carcass to a lab for a necropsy; they confirmed on Sept. 8 that the bear had examined unfavorable for rabies and distemper. 

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One other AGFC communications official, Trey Reid, known as the unprovoked assault “unprecedented” in an interview with reporters quickly after the incident happened. Reid mentioned he’d by no means heard of a black bear attacking a human in Arkansas throughout his 20 years with the company, and that it was the primary such assault to happen within the state in a minimum of 25 years.