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 road 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

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