Bears kill record number of people in Japan amid scores of attacks

Bears have killed a record number of people in Japan this year, the country’s environment ministry has revealed.

Bears hungry because of shortages of food such as acorns are encroaching into towns with aging and dwindling populations.

Experts say that warmer weather driven by climate change is causing the food shortage and affecting the hibernation patterns of the animals such as brown bears, which can weigh half a tonne and outrun a human.

There have been seven deaths linked to bears in this Japanese fiscal year, which began in April, and another person suspected to be a victim has recently been reported missing.

Hiker dead after bear attack on walking trail in northern Japan

Japanese police said the man in his 20s was hiking at Mount Rausu, on the northern island of Hokkaido, on Thursday morning when he was attacked.

An environment ministry official told AFP that was “the largest toll since 2006, when statistics started”.

The previous high of five human fatalities was recorded in 2023-24, the official said.

The record was reached following confirmation that a man in his 70s found dead on October 8 in the northern Iwate region had been killed by a bear.

Japanese broadcaster TV Iwate said the man’s head and torso had been separated.

The body of another man in his 70s was found two days later in an Iwate forest where he had been picking mushrooms.

A few days earlier, the body of a 78-year-old man with multiple claw marks was recovered in the central prefecture of Nagano.

The cause of death was yet to be confirmed in the last two cases.

More than 100 other people have been left with bites and deep gashes from bear attacks.

A woman in her 70s went missing after a bear attack in Miyagi prefecture earlier this month. (AFP: Yomiuri Shimbun)

Numerous attacks

A worker at a hot spring resort in Kitakami, also in Iwate, was reported missing on Thursday. 

Local media said that a search team had found what appeared to be human blood.

Five more people were reported injured on Thursday in incidents in Akita and Fukushima prefectures, Fuji Television network reported.

A 1.4-metre adult bear entered a supermarket in the Gunma region north of Tokyo last week and left a man in his 70s and another in his 60s with mild injuries.

The store is close to mountainous areas but has never had bears come near it before, according to Hiroshi Horikawa, an executive of the grocery store chain.

Why Japan is experiencing a record number of bear attacks

Japan recorded 219 bear attacks on people in the 12 months leading up to March this year.

The animal damaged a fish compartment and, “in the fruits section … knocked over a pile of avocados and trod on them”, he said.

The store’s manager told local media that 30 to 40 customers were inside at the time and that the bear became agitated as it searched for the exit.

A Spanish tourist was also attacked by a bear this month at a bus stop in the scenic village of Shirakawa-go in central Japan.

There are two types of bear in Japan — Asian black bears, also known as moon bears, and brown bears, which are larger and live on the main northern island of Hokkaido.

Thousands of the animals are shot every year, although Japan’s aging human population means that the number of hunters is declining.

AFP