Man Died Of Meth Overdose Before Bear Ate Him In National Park

A Tennessee man whose body was found in Great Smoky Mountains National Park last year, died of meth overdose and was not killed by a bear attack, an autopsy report released Monday revealed. It revealed the man died of "accidental methamphetamine intoxication."

The partially eaten body of William Lee Hill Jr. was found in the park on Sept. 9, 2018. At the time of discovery, officers encountered a bear feeding on the body.

“An autopsy revealed extensive postmortem animal predation, but no findings of antemortem/perimortem trauma,” the autopsy statement said. This meant the man wasn’t attacked by the bear. The animal had, however, eaten the body parts after his death.

Hill had gone with another man in search for ginseng, a herb used in energy drinks, and had a history of drug use. Syringes and other drug paraphernalia were also found near his body, Knox News reported.

Around 1,500 bears roam in the park, however, very few exhibit aggressive behavior toward humans.

"Wildlife biologists and park rangers work hard to prevent bears from becoming food-conditioned or habituated to high-use areas. Out of an abundance of caution for the park's 11 million park visitors, park staff implement aversive-conditioning techniques and, on rare occasions, euthanize individual bears that pose a threat to visitor safety,” park officials said Monday, ABC-affiliated television station WATE reported.

After consultation with wildlife experts, a decision was made to euthanize the animal the day after the man’s body was found. The bear was located and euthanized a few days later and throughout the search, the road to the park remained closed for the public.

Authorities had said the man’s body showed "evidence of wildlife scavenging." After the animal was euthanized, human DNA was recovered from it.

“While the cause of Mr. Hill’s death is unknown at this time, after gathering initial evidence, consulting with other wildlife professionals and careful consideration, we made the difficult decision to euthanize this bear out of concern for the safety of park visitors and local residents,” park superintendent Cassius Cash had said, ABC-affiliated television station WLOS reported.

“This is always one of the hardest decisions a wildlife manager has to make and is one that we did not take lightly. Over 2 million visitors come to the Cades Cove area annually and there are several residential areas very close to where we found Mr. Hill’s body. We could not take the risk of allowing this bear to approach or show aggression towards other people,” he added.