A bear thought to have killed an 88-year-old man and his dog is still on the loose hours after the tragedy on the edge of the Florida Everglades Monday morning, say authorities.
More than two dozen investigative officials from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Collier County Sheriff’s Office attended the scene off State Road 29, in the remote wooded unincorporated community of Jerome, about an hour’s drive southeast of Fort Myers.
CCSO said they first received the 911 call regarding a suspected “bear encounter” at around 7 a.m.
Longtime resident Robert Markel was found dead at the scene, within a few hundred yards of a dog that officials believe was killed “some time” later.
His daughter claims she witnessed the bear attack the dog, called 911, leading wildlife officials to discover Markel’s body “a couple hundred yards away” from the dog’s body.
If the cause of death is definitely confirmed, it would be the first documented fatal bear attack in the history of Florida, according to Commission spokesperson Jorge Reynaud, though there was a nonfatal mauling by a bear in January.
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“We do know it was a bear attack. We don’t know if it was the same bear or multiple bears,” Reynaud told reporters at a press briefing on Markel Monday.
Later, after a search involving aerial drones and bear traps, wildlife officials may have found the bear responsible.
According to the Naples Daily News, a cluster of apparent gunshots could be heard over the woods near Jerome on Monday evening, followed by officials hauling a dead bear out of the forest. It wasn’t immediately clear who killed the bear.
Officials had earlier warned residents and visitors that the animal in question — most likely a Florida black bear, of which there are an estimated 4,050 in the Sunshine State — might still be on the prowl.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we urge residents and visitors to remain vigilant, and avoid the area,” a Commission spokesperson said.
According to reports, officials believe that Markel was living with the dog in a rural Jerome area property including several homes, on the western fringe of the Big Cypress National Reserve.
