Family Says Grandfather Won't Survive Bear Attack Injuries

An Arkansas man was grievously injured in what authorities believe could be the state's first bear attack since before the Civil War. Vernon Patton, 72, was mauled by a 70-pound juvenile black bear last week while he was using his tractor to spread gravel on his land in Franklin County, People reports. His family says he will not recover from his injuries.

• "Our beloved father, grandfather, husband and hero, Vernon Patton, was seriously injured in a bear attack while he was doing what he loved, working on his land with his family," the family said in a statement. "Vernon is currently being cared for in the ICU in Little Rock. While he remains in stable condition, his injuries are extensive and ultimately not survivable."

Keith Stephens, chief of communications for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, tells the Arkansas Times that bear attacks in the state are extremely rare. "We don't have records back that far," he says, but "there's some news articles that talk about bear attacks in the 1850s. I've been here 25 years and we haven't had one." He says Patton's son found the bear attacking his father and it ran away after he threw rocks at it. Stephens says officers found and killed the bear near the scene of the attack. "If we have an animal that attacked a human being, you've got to put it down," he says. "You can't have that happening again."

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission confirmed that the bear responsible for the attack tested negative for rabies and distemper. "The necropsy is not completed yet, so as soon as that is, then maybe we'll have some more information," Stephens says, per 5 News. "But it's just so unusual that we feel like there's got to be something that went wrong with this bear."