Authorities have released information regarding the death of Darsh Patel, who died while hiking at a nature reserve with four other friends in New Jersey, saying that his fatal wounds were signs that a black bear had mauled him.

The alleged mauling has come as a shock to locals as bear attacks are said to be extremely rare in the area.

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According to reports, the five friends from Edison, New Jersey were hiking at the Apshawa Preserve on Sunday when some of them noticed a bear following. In panic, each individual ran in a different direction.

At around 3:44 P.M., they started to regroup but noticed that one of them was missing. That was when they called the police.

Two hours after, the search team then located the body of Patel. According to Police Chief Timothy Storbeck of West Milford, they saw bite marks and claw marks on the student's body.

The team also euthanized the bear that was believed to be around four-years-old. Reportedly, when authorities went to retrieve the body, the bear was circling around them and was about 35 meters away.

Allegedly, the bear seemed to be attempting to "protect" Patel's body.

Patel was a Rutgers University student in the School of Arts and Sciences. He was majoring in Information Technology.

The motive of the attack is yet to be examined by the State Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). They plan on opening the bear's stomach in order to see if it was sick or wounded.

Larry Ragonese of the DEP released a statement with advice for those who enjoy taking nature excursions. He said that if one encounters a bear, one must remain calm and avoid running, avoid eye contact with the bear, back up slowly and speak with a low and assertive voice.

According to Storbeck, this bear had not been "tagged," meaning there were no problems or concerns raised about this particular bear. Bear sightings in the area are frequent and most of the problems are only related to food and garbage.

This is only the second time that someone has been killed by a black bear in New Jersey. The last case was reportedly back in 1852.

Bears are said to be docile and generally avoid human contact. The attacks are normally due to people having food.

Also, once a bear is exposed to food given by humans, they see every human as a source of something they can eat, thus becoming aggressive if they see or smell food. 

TagsBlack bear, New Jersey, hiking students, nature reserve, Darsh Patel, bear attack