The Brief

LITTLE ROCK - DNA testing has confirmed that the black bear killed in Newton County earlier this month was not the same animal that fatally attacked a camper in the Ozark National Forest, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission announced.

The backstory:

Arkansas officials previously announced earlier this month that they had shot and killed a male black bear that they believe fatally mauled a 60-year-old Missouri man at his campsite in the Ozark National Forest.

The body of Max Thomas of Springfield, Missouri, was discovered 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 bl

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