Lab tests connect black bear killed by Florida wildlife officers to fatal attack on man and his dog

JEROME Fla AP 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 administrators explained Friday Necropsy results revealed that a -pound -kilogram male bear contained the partial remains of -year-old Robert Markel the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission revealed in a declaration Testing presented that same bear s DNA was present on Markel s body inside his home and on the dog s body Wildlife functionaries have not explicitly commented that bear is the one that killed Markel but a preliminary autopsy by the Collier County Diagnostic Examiner uncovered 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 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 officers noted Wildlife leaders are still probing the events that led to the attack Florida s black bears which were once threatened have increasingly wandered into neighborhoods and private property in contemporary years especially in more rural areas of north and central Florida