A person was attacked by a bear whereas utilizing a public rest room in Japan on Friday, marking the most recent incident in a wave of bear encounters in densely populated areas.
The assault occurred within the Gunma Prefecture, close to Numata railway station, north of Tokyo, Japanese broadcaster NHK reported.
Police say the sufferer, a 69-year-old man who stays unidentified, was mauled by a 1.5-metre-long bear simply earlier than exiting the general public rest room at about 1:30 a.m., and sustained minor accidents to his leg.
The bear fled the scene after the person started yelling and kicking his legs in self-defence, The Guardian reported.
The station the place the bear assault occurred is centrally situated in Numata Metropolis, near properties and eating places, and only one km from the town corridor constructing.
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Police stay on excessive alert within the space, the Japanese outlet wrote.
The toilet encounter got here a couple of month after a bear wandered right into a grocery retailer in the identical city space and reportedly attacked an individual within the car parking zone earlier than mendacity on high of a buyer and ransacking the meals counter.
Based on AFP, the bear was roughly 1.4 metres lengthy and scoured the shop’s fish and sushi alternatives earlier than stamping on avocados within the fruit part.
In the identical week, a person was mauled to loss of life by a bear whereas out selecting mushrooms, and one other individual was discovered decapitated in a suspected bear assault, marking an uptick in such confrontations, Japanese officers mentioned.
In a number of different bear assaults in October, a farmer was mauled in Gojome City, northwestern Japan. The sufferer, a person in his 20s, referred to as police, NHK reported, telling authorities he had been bitten and scratched by a bear on his property. He was taken to hospital and handled for minor accidents.
Japan Floor Self-Protection Drive members and others arrange a field lure to seize bears in Kazuno, Akita prefecture, northern Japan Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025.
Muneyoshi Someya/Kyodo Information through AP
Across the similar time, a bear attacked a Spanish vacationer at a bus cease within the Shirakawago settlement in Gifu Prefecture, the Japan Instances mentioned.
In one other confirmed mauling fatality, a lady in her 70s died in September whereas selecting mushrooms within the Miyagi Prefecture. She was with three mates when the assault occurred, the outlet mentioned.
Reviews of bear assaults in Japan, together with in residential neighbourhoods, have develop into extra frequent in recent times, partly on account of a declining human inhabitants and local weather change, which have impacted bears’ entry to meals sources and, in flip, their hibernation cycles.
13 individuals have died in bear assaults in Japan for the reason that begin of April, in line with the atmosphere ministry, with the overall variety of assaults standing at 220 — additionally a file, NHK reported, with probably the most deaths occurring within the Iwate prefecture.
Acorns and beechnuts are the first meals sources for bears. In years when these sources are scarce of their pure habitat, they’re extra more likely to enterprise into residential areas in the hunt for meals, thereby rising the chance of human encounters.
In response to the uptick in assaults, the Japanese authorities has mobilized the army to help native hunters in trapping bears. Armed police have additionally been permitted to shoot the animals as native searching populations decline.
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