Bear owned by controversial animal-wrestling exhibitor fatally mauls man in Ohio

Bear owned by Ohio wrestling exhibitor kills man

COLUMBIA STATION, Ohio — An investigator in Ohio says a bear mauled its caretaker to death while the animal was being fed by the victim and its owner.

Capt. James Drozdowski of the Lorain County Sheriff’s Office said Friday the bear was out of its cage at the time of the attack the night before. He says that’s not unusual and it’s not clear why the animal became aggressive.

A coroner says Brent Kandra of Elyria (eh-LEER’-ee-uh) died Friday morning at a Cleveland hospital.

Drozdowski says there were as many as nine bears on the property in Columbia Township southwest of Cleveland.

Owner Sam Mazzola used to offer the chance to wrestle a black bear at a Cleveland expo. A rescue squad took him from the scene Thursday with an unspecified medical problem.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

COLUMBIA STATION, Ohio (AP) — A bear whose owner was a target of animal rights protesters for staging bear wrestling shows mauled a 24-year-old man to death, authorities said Friday.

Brent Kandra, of Elyria, died Friday morning at MetroHealth Medical Center, the coroner’s office in Cleveland said. He had been taken by medical helicopter after the Thursday evening attack in Columbia Township southwest of Cleveland.

Deputies who responded said the bear was contained in its cage without further problems.

The bear is owned by Sam Mazzola, who used to offer people the chance to pay to wrestle a black bear at the annual Cleveland Sport, Travel & Outdoor Show, the sheriff’s office said. A rescue squad took Mazzola from the scene Thursday with an unspecified medical problem.

It wasn’t clear whether the attack took place outside the cage or whether the bear had ever been used in wrestling shows. The sheriff’s office didn’t immediately return calls Friday seeking more information, including whether the bear would be euthanized.

The gate at Mazzola’s property was closed Friday with a no-trespassing sign posted. Three sheriff’s deputies were posted nearby.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, based in Norfolk, Va., four years ago made Mazzola a focus of its national efforts to ban bear wrestling and demanded that the U.S. Department of Agriculture take away his license to exhibit exotic animals.

Mazzola said at the time that bear wrestling had been part of his business, World Animal Studios Inc., for more than 20 years and that he had no intention of stopping.

Messages were left Friday with the Agriculture Department.

This year has seen other fatal bear attacks, though typically involving animals in the wild. In April, a 6-year-old girl from northern Ohio was killed by a black bear while visiting the Cherokee National Forest in Tennessee with family members. A grizzly bear mauled three campers in Montana near Yellowstone National Park in late July, leaving one man dead and two people with serious injuries.