WATERBORO — State wildlife officials have set up a trap studded with doughnuts and molasses in an attempt to capture a bear suspected of killing a beef steer and causing the death of two others.

Late last month, Andrew C. Woodsome Jr. discovered that one of his six steers, a 1,000-pound Hereford, was missing. A brief search turned up the animal’s carcass.

“Its face was completely mangled,” Woodsome said. “Its neck was all gouged with claw marks and an entire hindquarter had been ripped away.

“It was twisted off like a drumstick on a turkey,” he said, estimating the hindquarter weighed more than 200 pounds. “People don’t realize how powerful a black bear is.”

Woodsome said he thought the bear attack was a freak occurrence done by an animal wandering through the area.

But a few days later, he found two more steers dead after having been chased. The deaths convinced the 30-year cattle veteran that a bear was in the area and intended to stay.

Philip Bozenhard of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife said bears are common in remote parts of northern and western Maine, but not in the southern part of the state.

“Bears will eat anything, all the way from ants and grubs to clover and grass and nuts,” Bozenhard said.

When hungry enough they will attack a steer, he added.

The state has set up a barrel-shaped trap at Woodsome’s farm in an effort to catch the animal.

The trap is attached to a trailer and is baited with molasses and doughnuts. Once a bear gets inside, a door on the barrel slams shut, then a truck can back up to the trailer and take the animal to a remote area of the state.