NASHVILLE, Tenn.- A black bear was caught in a forest recreation area yesterday and was being sent to a veterinary school to determine if it was the same animal that attacked a family, killing a 6-year-old girl.

Authorities found a bear in the same trap where they detected paw prints on Saturday in the remote Cherokee National Forest Chilhowee Recreation Area, U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Sharon Moore said.

The bear, which was captured near the site of the attack, looked to be the same weight as the 350- to 400-pound bear that attacked a mother and her two children on a trail in the recreation area on Thursday, she said.

“We’re very hopeful this is the bear,” Ms. Moore said. “It’s basically the same size bear. There’s truly not that many bears in the 5,000 acres we have closed off.”

Ms. Moore said authorities planned to euthanize the bear on Sunday and send its body to the University of Tennessee’s College of Veterinary Medicine in Knoxville to determine whether it was the one that had attacked the family.

A bear attacked and killed Elora Petrasek Thursday afternoon as she and her family were leaving a waterfall pool on a rugged, 1,800-foot-high mountaintop, about 10 miles from the nearest highway.

The bear bit the girl’s 2-year-old brother, Luke Cenkus, on his head and punctured his skull, officials said. Their mother, Susan Cenkus, 45, tried to fend off the bear with rocks and sticks but the bear attacked her, dragging her yards off the trail.

Her 6-year-old daughter apparently ran away and almost an hour passed before a rescuer found her body about 100 yards off the trail with the bear. The man said he shot twice at the bear with a pistol before it ran away.

On Saturday, a 7-year-old boy hiking with his family was attacked by a mountain lion, officials said. The cat was later killed by a wildlife officer.

The mountain lion bit the boy’s head or jaw, and the child also suffered puncture wounds or scrapes on his legs, likely from the animal’s claws, Division of Wildlife spokesman Tyler Baskfield said.

The boy, whose name was not released, was apparently the last in a single-file line of seven other people taking a short hike at a scenic area of Flagstaff Mountain, Mr. Baskfield said.

“The father turned and saw the cat had a hold of the young boy,” he said. The group began screaming at the cat and throwing rocks and was able to free the boy, he said.