China, 2020. A 47-year-old woman and her 7-year-old son were attacked by a black bear while walking through the mountain trail in the village. The woman was killed, and the boy escaped and called for help along the way. A 55-year-old male relative went to the mountains to look for the woman after hearing the news and was attacked and killed by the black bear. During the search and rescue later that night, the leader of the village group, a 68-year-old male was attacked by the black bear and died. When the black bear attacked the people at the scene again, he was shot dead by the police.
Fig.1 Craniofacial injuries on the woman.
Fig.2 Injuries on the woman.
Fig.3 Tibial fracture on the woman.
The body of a woman was found about 300 meters west of a construction site, with her head facing southeast and feet facing northwest, lying on the right side, wearing an orange short-sleeved sweater, blue trousers, and white striped socks. The deceased’s shoes, belongings, and multiple lumps of human tissue and blood were found within a 7 m x 2 m area around the body. The body of the second victim was located 23 meters west of the woman’s body, and the third victim was located 8 meters west.
Autopsies were conducted on the three deceased. Head, face, and neck injuries are fatal, and there is redness, swelling, and bleeding around the wounds. The damage is distributed in various parts of the body, especially the head, face, and neck. Damage forms include: Extensive bite, a large number of symmetrical hole-like fissures were seen on the trunk and limbs, some of which were in groups of 4, and the wound cavities reached the subcutaneous or muscular layer. Soft tissue loss, is mainly distributed in the head and face, neck, and limbs. The stump of soft tissue at the defect was strip-like or flake-like, the wound margin was irregular and torn, blood vessels and nerves could be seen at the broken end, bone comminuted fractures could be seen at the base of the wound, and plant fragments adhered to the wound surface. Multiple fractures, the zygomatic, maxilla, mandible, and nasal bones of the three victims had fractures or bone loss. Thoracic collapse, bone friction sensation can be palpable, and bone friction sound can be heard.
Fig.4 The relative was bitten on the neck and shoulder.
Fig.5 Bites on the back of the relative.
After the incident, a blood sample was taken from the three deceased. At the same time, the suspected human tissue in the stomach of the black bear was dissected and extracted for DNA testing. The results showed that the suspected human tissues in the stomach of black bears submitted for inspection had the same genotypes as the victims.
Fig.6 Injuries on the calfs on the village leader.
Fig.7 Bite marks on one of the victim’s lower limbs.
The dissected black bear is male, covered with black hair, with a white “V”-shaped horizontal spot on the chest, 160 cm in length, 175 kg in weight, missing the distal end of the right rear calf and the sole of the right hind foot, with a scab on the stump and a large amount of fresh Granulation tissue, it is inferred that the damage here is caused by the action of animal traps. Examining the mouth of the black bear, it was found that the bite marks on the limbs of the three deceased were consistent with the characteristics of the teeth of the black bear. There are two large symmetrical laceration wounds on the back of the black bear, and there is a lot of inflammatory exudate in the wound cavity, which is inferred to be bitten by beasts when they attack each other. Human soft tissue was extracted from the stomach contents of black bears.
Fig.8 Dental features of the black bear.
According to the autopsy examination, it is inferred that the victims all suffered from extensive tearing of soft tissues in the head, neck, and extremities due to the black bear attack, accompanied by tissue loss and rupture of large blood vessels, and eventually died of trauma combined with hemorrhagic shock.
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