ANCHORAGE — More than a month after a man was left bloodied and unconscious near an Anchorage park, wildlife officials are unable to say what or who attacked him.
Fred Mayac, 50, remains hospitalized after he was found June 8 near Campbell Creek Estuary Park, KTUU-TV reported (http://bit.ly/29z1Ghr ). A friend says he can’t talk but can write; investigators are waiting for his condition to improve before speaking to him.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game said in a report released Wednesday that medical personnel who tended to Mayac believed his injuries were consistent with a bear mauling but other evidence points to a moose stomping or possibly an assault by a person. Fish and Game biologists Dave Battle and Cory Stantorf investigated in the days following the attack.
The department says the biologists found “an abundance of moose hoof prints at the attack site and lack of any bear sign.” But they also spoke to a resident who said he saw a small black bear in the area, and “the report of the bear’s presence and behavior led to a re-evaluation as to what type of animal was involved in the attack.”
Later, the report says, a small black bear came within 20 yards of Battle, who then shot and killed the animal.
In addition, a witness told KTUU-TV he saw Mayac leave a bed-and-breakfast with a “big man with shoulder length hair” hours before the attack. Also, Mayac’s friend, Flossie Spencer, said she visited Mayac in the hospital and does not believe he was attacked by an animal.
“There was no bruising at all. I don’t understand how if he was attacked by a bear or a moose, how there could be no bruising,” Spencer said.
