MOUNT JUDEA, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas officials shot and killed a male black bear that they believe fatally mauled a 60-year-old Missouri man last week at his campsite in the Ozark National Forest , authorities said Monday.
The body of Max Thomas of Springfield, Missouri, was discovered Thursday several yards outside the Sam’s Throne campground in northwest Arkansas, Newton County Sheriff Glenn Wheeler said.
A deputy had gone to the campground after the man’s son reported he had not heard from his father, who had sent his family pictures of a black bear in his camp Tuesday morning, Wheeler said. The deputy found evidence of a struggle and injury, including drag marks from the campground into the woods, the sheriff said.
“We believe he was in the process of breaking down his camp when the