Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials still don't know whether a backpacker was killed by a black bear last fall/Tennessee Wildlife Resources
Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials hope results of an autopsy on a backpacker whose body was being scavenged by a black bear will tell whether the man was killed by the bear.
The necropsy on the bear found last September near the body of Patrick Madura, 43, of Elgin, Illinois, determined it was a healthy, year-old, 231-pound animal.
Madura was on a multi-day backpack in the park that straddles the Tennessee-North Carolina border and had reserved backcountry campsite 82 for the night of September 8, park officials said. Three days later, backpackers coming down the trail spotted his unoccupied tent, and then noticed a black bear scavenging his remains.
The hikers quickly left to obtain cell coverage and report the incident to the authorities. Law enforcement rangers and wildlife officers reached the campsite shortly after midnight, confirmed the report of a deceased adult human male, and killed a bear seen scavenging on the remains.
The ensuing necropsy determined that "(T)here is no evidence of underlying disease in the bear."
At the national park, Dana Soehn said autopsy results on the backpacker still hadn't been received.
"We are waiting on the autopsy and an assessment of cause of death to be able to close out this case," she said Monday in an email. "Until the autopsy comes back, it is unknown whether the bear was responsible for the death of the individual or if it was simply feeding on him after he died."
Great Smoky is home to an estimated 1,500 bears. Very few bears exhibit aggressive behavior towards humans. Wildlife biologists and park rangers work hard to prevent bears from becoming food-conditioned or habituated to high-use areas. Out of an abundance of caution for the park's 11 million park visitors, park staff implement aversive-conditioning techniques and, on rare occasions, euthanize individual bears that pose a threat to visitor safety.
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Comments
The guy could have been stalking the bear with a camera and gotten too close. He could have been doing any of the stupid things that many idiots do in National Parks. It's amazing that more people aren't killed by trying to hug or take a photo of a wild animal. Just killing a bear because it MAY have killed someone when it is not acting aggresively seems unnecessay to me. It's the bear's home we are intruders. The NPS should be more aggressive about removing people from places where they have been warned not to go or behaving in ways they have been told not to behave. Get their IDs add all the information to a database and ban the morons from all national parks for five years. If they have a pass, take it. Then give entry rangers an iPad with the routinely updated database on it and do not let the offender in a national park for 5 years. Also put the routinely updated database online with only the person's name, city and state visable so that the entire world will know who to avoid due to potentially fatal stupidity OR just let natural selection continue to cull the human species. I am soooooooo tired of fools...
So the previous commenter suggests letting park bears prey on park visitors. Hmmm. I'm sure the public and politicians would accept that, no problem. Yes, the victim could have done those things the commenter described, or he could have been the victim of a predatory bear. Or he might have died of natural causes and the bear did what cam naturally. Either way, the bear fed on a human and the risk is way too high to let the bear go about its business. What would the parents of a child snatched by this bear say when they heard of this tragedy, not to mention a huge lawsuit for gross negligence on the part of the NPS. No one wants to kill a park bear, but sometimes events dictate that as the best solution.
What I want to know is why in the world is an autopsy taking 6 months?
Patrick was an experienced outdoorsman and familiar with the trail. He had a masters in biology and worked in ecological restoration. He knew what he was doing when it came to bears.
Sanctimony surpassed only by lack of compassion
Patricia I respect your opinion, but Patrick was far from stupid or a fool. He was extremely intelligent, an avid outdoorsman and a conservationalist. Our family is still devasted from this tragedy.
I too can't understand how it can take over six months to complete this investigation.Our family cannot have closure until this is over.We miss our son every day!
I am sorry for your loss.