Rare Attack by Black Bear Kills Man in Arizona

When fatal bear attacks make the news, it's usually a grizzly that's involved. However, the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office in Arizona says a black bear fatally mauled a 66-year-old man on Friday morning, reports NBC News. Even more unusual, it appears that the bear was unprovoked. “From multiple witness accounts and preliminary investigation of the scene, Mr. Jackson had been sitting having coffee at a table on his property where he was building a home,” the sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post. The area is described as remote and heavily wooded.

Neighbors heard the screams, and one fatally shot the bear with a rifle, but the sheriff's office says it was too late to save Jackson. Deputies don't think it was a case of an adult bear protecting her cubs. “It sounds like this would have been a predatory attack,” John Trierweiler, public information officer for the Arizona Game and Fish Department, tells CNN. It's the first fatal bear attack since 2011 in Arizona, which has only black bears.

Generally speaking, black bears are "really timid and shy," biologist Spencer Peter of the North American Bear Center in Minnesota tells the New York Times. But “you have outliers," he added. “Some bears are born more aggressive." The incident took place in the Groom Creek area near Prescott, and one factor is that bears in the region might not be accustomed to having humans around. (More black bear stories.)