- 21 May 2003
- 14,310
- 4,404
OH CRAP ! Now we're going to be on YouTube.
Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
Hokkaido has come to exemplify Japan's growing bear problem. The country's northernmost major island is sparsely populated - but its bear population has more than doubled since 1990, according to government data. It now has around 12,000 brown bears, which are known to be more aggressive than black bears, of which there are around 10,000 in Japan by experts' estimates. Local governments have tried different strategies to keep bears away. Some have turned to odd guardians - robot wolves, complete with red eyes and spooky howls, while elsewhere in the country they are testing an artificial intelligence warning system. The town of Naie in Hokkaido has been trying to hire hunters for 10,300 yen ($64; £50) a day to patrol the streets, lay traps and kill the animals if necessary. But there are few takers - it's a high-risk job, the pay is not attractive enough and many of the hunters are elderly. "It is not worth the trouble because confronting a bear will put our lives on the line," a 72-year-old hunter from the area told The Asahi Shimbun newspaper, likening an encounter with a brown bear to "fighting a US military commando".
A record 219 serious incidents, including six deaths, were reported in Japan in the year to March, while more than 9,000 black and brown bears were trapped and culled over that period, according to the Environment Ministry. Experts attribute the rise in attacks to a scarcity of acorns and other staples of the ursine diet – a problem some experts have attributed to the climate crisis. They have also been encouraged to travel further afield due to depopulation in rural communities and increased abandoned farmland. Japan's bear population is growing, with an estimate by the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper putting the number of Asiatic black bears at 44,000, compared with 15,000 estimated in 2012. The estimate does not include Hokkaido, thought to be home to just under 12,000 Ussuri brown bears – a threefold increase since 2012.
Probably no worse than "trapping and culling."Not the news I had hoped for:
![]()
Japan relaxes bear-shooting laws amid rise in attacks
Authorities relax laws to make it easier for hunters to carry out ‘emergency shootings’ when bears are spotted in populated areaswww.theguardian.com
Hokkaido police have released video footage of an accident in Kushiro Town, Hokkaido, where a bear suddenly ran into the path of a car. The bear, about 1.5 meters long, leapt over a guardrail and dashed in front of the car before the driver had time to react at around 10:00 PM on June 17th. The collision was so intense that the car's hood was severely deformed and no longer drivable. The driver, a woman in her 20s, was unharmed in the incident, but the vehicle was left inoperable due to the significant damage. The bear, after being thrown from the impact, ran off in the direction it had come from.
A bear culled on July 18th in the southern Hokkaido town of Fukushima has been confirmed through DNA testing to match hair found on the clothing of a man who died on July 12th. The male bear was killed in a residential area of Fukushima, where officials collected hair samples. According to researchers, the DNA from the bear matches that found on the clothes of a newspaper deliveryman who was fatally attacked, as well as other hair samples taken near the scene. DNA analysis also revealed that the same bear was responsible for the death of a woman in her 70s in the town four years ago. "I feel a bit safer knowing that this bear is no longer around, but we still need to stay cautious in our daily lives," said a local resident. Following the bear's extermination, Hokkaido authorities downgraded the "brown bear warning" to a lower-level "advisory."
soranews24.com
This response addresses upcoming changes to the Wildlife Protection, Control, and Hunting Management Act, aiming to alleviate the legal and financial burdens on municipalities and individuals involved in wildlife management. Previously, the use of hunting rifles in populated areas was tightly restricted, permitted only in limited circumstances and typically under police authorisation as outlined in the Police Execution of Duties Act. However, amid a rise in bear-related incidents, legislative revisions set to take effect in September will allow local governments to authorise their use more broadly. Under the new rules, both municipal staff and registered hunters will be permitted to use firearms when there is a demonstrable threat to human safety. The Ministry of the Environment has now officially designated bears and wild boars as "dangerous wild animals" under the revised framework.