Japan faces ‘inevitable’ rise in bear attacks as climate change pushes them into urban areas
- More bear attacks are expected over the next few weeks as climate change erode the bears’ food sources and a warm autumn delays their hibernation
- Some parts of Japan have deployed hunting dogs and robotic wolves to react when bears are close by, but wildlife experts urge a ‘big picture’ approach
Authorities are calling on residents in rural parts of the country, farmers, hikers, fishermen and anyone else in regions that are also home to bears to exercise caution.
They also warn that additional incidents are likely in the coming weeks, given a poor crop of nuts, berries and wild fruit in mountainous areas this year that has been blamed on climate change, and a warm autumn that is delaying bears’ hibernation.
On Tuesday, three hikers in Hokkaido, northern Japan, were attacked by a 1.7-metre (5.6 feet) brown bear as they climbed Mount Daisengen. Two of the men sustained scratches and bites to their legs and torsos before the third man fought the bear off with a hunting knife, the Mainichi newspaper reported.
Earlier in October, six people were injured in a series of attacks on the same day in suburban districts of cities in Akita and Iwate prefectures, in northeast Japan.
In one of the incidents, a bear bit a 13-year-old girl as she waited at a bus stop, and it later also attacked a woman outside a hospital in Kita-Akita city. She was treated for severe blood loss, and broken bones in her leg and chest.
Later the same day in Iwate Prefecture, a man and woman picking mushrooms were attacked by a bear, with the woman later dying from her injuries. A bear also managed to enter a local hospital in the prefecture, causing chaos before it could be captured by local officials.
The Japanese government on Tuesday held an emergency meeting of officials from the ministry of the environment, and the agriculture and forestry ministry in Tokyo. They agreed to immediately dispatch wildlife experts to advise local governments that have reported the greatest number of incidents involving bears.