Image by: Menno Schaefer
It is being reported that New Jersey wildlife officials are investigating an apparent attack on a 22-year-old man by a black bear that left him dead.
On Sunday a group of five friends were hiking in the Apshawa nature preserve when they saw a black bear following them. In a panic they fled in different directions. When they regrouped, they realized that of the member of the group, Darsh Patel, was missing.
The friends contacted the police, who found the body of Patel two hours later with evidence that the bear had attacked and killed him. A black bear who was circling the body at the scene was euthanized.
“The last fatal bear attack [in New Jersey] was in the 1850s,” New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife spokesperson Larry Hajna told Outside Magazine. “We’ve had bear sightings in all kinds of environments, and they’ve always been safely resolved.”
Over the past 110 years, a total of 63 people were killed in 59 non-captive bear attacks, most of those occurring in Canada and Alaska.