CASS — An aged man was airlifted for medical therapy Wednesday afternoon after a small bear attacked him whereas he was working exterior in northern Franklin County, the Arkansas Recreation and Fish Fee reported.
Such an incident is uncommon; that is the primary bear assault in Arkansas in not less than 25 years, in keeping with Keith Stephens, chief of the Communications Division for the fee.
The black bear was killed by recreation wardens and a Recreation and Fish massive carnivore biologist will conduct a necropsy on the animal’s stays, Stephens mentioned.
The incident occurred within the Mulberry Mountain space north of Ozark when the person, who’s in his 70s, was on the aspect of a gravel street engaged on a tractor, Stephens mentioned.
The sufferer’s son noticed a portion of the assault, the fee reported.
The American black bear — the smallest of its species present in the USA and most typical in North America — is the one bear species that lives in Arkansas, the Recreation and Fish Fee reviews.
Their coats can vary from brown to grey to cinnamon in shade, in keeping with the fee, and so they quantity round 5,000 at present within the Pure State.
Arkansas previously was often called the Bear State and black bear sightings are widespread in late spring after they emerge from their winter dens, Recreation and Fish reviews.
“Many of the calls we get about bears getting too near cities and cities come throughout just a few months in summer time and so they’re virtually at all times younger males,” Myron Means, massive carnivore program coordinator for the Arkansas Recreation and Fish Fee, mentioned in an article on the fee web site. “They’ve overwintered with their mom twice and now it is time for them to seek out new properties.”
Residents and guests are suggested to maintain “simple meals” away from bears, Means mentioned, and that may embody corn feeders, simply tipped over trash cans and barbecue grills with uncleaned drip pans.
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Penny Weaver is an award-winning journalist who covers crime, regulation enforcement, court docket proceedings and extra for the River Valley Democrat-Gazette. She has greater than 30 years of expertise as a reporter, photographer, columnist and editor at day by day newspapers. Penny has reported on every little thing from nationwide civil rights points to hog farming in Illinois, Georgia, Texas and now Arkansas. She digs till she uncovers all of the information for each story.
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