JEROME, Fla. — Lab results have connected one of three black bears killed by wildlife officers in southwest Florida to a fatal attack on a man and his dog a day earlier, officials said Friday.
Necropsy results revealed that a 263-pound male bear contained the partial remains of 89-year-old Robert Markel, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said in a statement. Testing showed that same bear's DNA was present on Markel's body, inside his home and on the dog’s body.
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Wildlife officials said this is "confirmed to be the first fatal Florida black bear attack in state history."
A preliminary autopsy by the Collier County Medical Examiner found that Markel's cause of death is consistent with a bear attack.
Markel was attacked early Monday near his home in a rural area east of Naples, just south of Big Cypress Wildlife Management Area.
Jerome is in the South Bear Management Unit, which has the third largest population of bears in the state, estimated at 1,044 in 2015, according to FWC.
Wildlife officers set several traps and cameras. They killed three black bears in the area and sent their remains to a Gainesville lab. None of the animals tested positive for rabies, officials said. There was an unsuccessful attempt to trap a fourth bear.
Wildlife officials are still investigating the events that led to the attack.
Florida's black bears, which were once threatened, have increasingly wandered into neighborhoods and private property in recent years, especially in more rural areas of north and central Florida.
FWC said they receive an average of 6,300 bear-related calls annually and documented 42 prior incidents where wild black bears have made physical contact with people since the 1970s, which is when comprehensive records began being kept. Of those, three resulted in serious injuries requiring medical attention before this week's fatality.
Call the FWC's Wildlife Alert Hotline at 888-404-FWCC (3922) if you feel threatened by a bear; observe a sick, injured, dead, or orphaned bear; or to report someone who is either harming bears or intentionally feeding them.
