Bear attack pictures - A 22 years old student, who was mauled to death by a 300 pounds bear, reportedly took pictures of the animal before being fatally attacked.

The bear attack pictures were released by the West Milford police on Tuesday. About six bear pictures were taken by the victim who has been identified as Darsh Patel, a Rutgers student.

Reports indicate that Patel was attacked and killed by a black bear while hiking with four friends in the Apshawa Preserve in West Milford back in September.

The series of bear attack pictures were discovered on his camera phone as part of investigations into the cause of the animal to attack Patel.

"They stopped and took photographs of the bear with their cellphones and the bear began walking towards them," a police report revealed.

Some of the bear attack pictures show a male bear about 100 feet away from the group of young hikers. After taking some pictures of the beast, the hikers decided to continue on their trip when they noticed that the bear was following them.

According to police reports, the group of hikers decided to split up in order to escape the bear's unwanted attention. However, when they regrouped, Patel was no where to be found. The four hikers called the police who arrived at the scene and conducted a two-hour search through the reserve.

Patel's body was later discovered, but the bear was still standing a few meters close to it. After several attempts at scaring the animal way, authorities were left with no order choice than to shot and kill the animal.

A post-mortem examination report confirmed that the bear had killed Patel. Traces of human tissue, blood and clothing where discovered in the bear's paws and intestines.

New Jersey records reveal that although over 100 black bear's live in the Apshawa Preserve, there have been few cases of bear attacks. Patel was the first to be killed by a bear in New Jersey.

Reports indicate that Patel's phone, which he used to take the bear attack pictures was found close to his body with marks of the animals fangs and paws on it.