A hiker has been found dead in northern Japan a day after a bear attacked and dragged him into the forest.
The victim, who was in his 20s, tried to fight off the large animal but was pulled into the nearby woods with his legs bleeding profusely, according to local media outlets, including the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper.
He was initially reported as missing on Thursday by a second man, who was hiking alongside him on Mount Rausu, situated on the northern island of Hokkaido, according to Japan Today.
Authorities were notified around 11.10am by the companion, who was also confronted by the bear at an altitude of 550 metres, but managed to escape unharmed.
A search and rescue mission was launched and on Friday afternoon the victim was found and taken to hospital where he was officially pronounced dead, according to a Hokkaido government official.
Hunters also caught and killed a bear near the trail, according to an official working for Shari town, in the vicinity of the mountain.
DNA analysis will be conducted to determine whether the bear was responsible for the victim’s death.
A wallet containing a card that bore the man’s name was found near to where the man encountered the animal in the northeastern part of Hokkaido, according to media.
A hiker has been found dead in northern Japan a day after a bear attacked and dragged him into the forest. Pictured: A search helicopter over Mount Rausu in Hokkaido on Thursday
DNA analysis will be conducted to determine whether the bear was responsible for the victim’s death. Pictured: An Asian black bear commonly found in Japan (file)
The victim tried to fight off the large animal but was pulled into the nearby woods with his legs bleeding profusely, according to local media. Pictured: Hokkaido, Japan (file)
A torn, bloodied shirt believed to be his was also found on Friday, with nearby trees and soil dotted with traces of blood, Kyodo news agency said, quoting police.
Among other discovered items were a watch, a hat and what appeared to be tear gas.
The number of brown bears in Hokkaido fell year-on-year in 2023 for the first time since 1991, according to estimates released this month.
There were about 11,600 at the end of 2023, down 500 from a year earlier.
The Hokkaido government cited unprecedented hunting of brown bears, with a record 1,804 caught in the 12 months to March 2024.
A climber was forced to use his martial arts skills to fight off an enraged black bear that lunged at him repeatedly on a rock face on Japan’s Mount Futago in October 2022
The bear lunged at him as she was defending her cub and even though he punched, kicked and screamed and fought it off, it came back
The climber said he used his karate and mixed martial arts training as he had to defend himself. He said that this was likely to have saved his life
The incident comes just months after the Japanese government announced it would allow hunters to shoot bears in populated areas after dangerous human encounters hit record levels.
A revised wildlife protection and management law, which was approved by the cabinet in February, allows ’emergency shootings’ following complaints that hunters were hampered by red tape.
The environment ministry hopes to present the bill to parliament in the coming months and get it enacted before autumn, when bear sightings typically surge.
Currently, shooting animals such as bears or wild boar in residential areas is forbidden.
It comes as Japan battles a bear attack crisis that saw 219 people attacked by bears in 12 months to April 2024, with six human fatalities – the highest since statistics began nearly two decades ago.
Climate change affecting bear food sources and hibernation times, along with depopulation caused by an ageing society, are causing the animals to venture into towns more frequently.
Under current rules, hunters are not allowed to shoot without being given the green light by police – even when bears hole themselves up in populated areas.
Even then, police ‘can only issue such a command in an extremely dire situation, such as when a person is seconds away from being attacked’, an environment ministry official said.
A brown bear is seen bounding down on a residential street in suburban Sapporo, Hokkaido on June 18, 2021
Members of a hunting group stay vigilant in search for a brown bear that was on the loose in Sapporo, Hokkaido prefecture on June 18, 2021
Last December, a bear rampaged through a supermarket in northern Japan for two days before being lured out with food coated in honey.
It wounded a 47-year-old man before shoppers were evacuated and the bear laid waste to the meat department.
A fisherman was feared to have been eaten by a bear after a human head was discovered and boots spotted dangling from a bear’s mouth on Japan’s Hokkaido island in May 2023.
Toshihiro Nishikawa, 54, had been dropped off at a remote fishing location by the lake in Horokanaion but did not return.
A boat operator who provided transport to Nishikawa at the lake reportedly witnessed a bear that had fishing boots dangling from its mouth on that same day.
The remains of a human head were later discovered, close to where the fisherman had last been seen.
And a climber made headlines in October 2022 after he was forced to use his martial arts skills to fight off an enraged black bear that lunged at him repeatedly on a rock face on Japan’s Mount Futago.
Fearing for his life, the man lashed out at the snarling beast, using his fists and feet to strike it until it gave up and ran away.
He said he used his karate and mixed martial arts training as he had to defend himself, claiming that this was likely to have saved his life.
The unnamed climber believes the mother bear was defending her cub and that he had invaded her territory.
Japanese authorities have urged people to remain vigilant in light of the growing bear attacks, which have been on the rise year-on-year.
Conservationists have called for more to be done to improve natural habitats for bears. They have also heavily criticized bear shootings.
AloJapan.com