A person in Japan was mauled to loss of life by a bear on Friday, the identical week a bear pounced at customers at a grocery retailer in an space north of Tokyo and one other individual was discovered decapitated in a suspected bear assault, marking an uptick in such confrontations, Japanese officers mentioned.
In response to the Japan Instances, a person in his 70s who went lacking after going to reap mushrooms within the woods was discovered lifeless after a mauling.
“We suspect he was attacked by a bear primarily based on scratch marks,” an official from the Iwate Prefectural Police instructed the Japanese information outlet.
Between April and September, 5 bear-related deaths have been confirmed in Japan, and 108 folks have been injured. A number of incidents below investigation, together with the person discovered on Friday, might lead to a document variety of bear-related deaths within the nation since 2023, in response to the AFP.
On Wednesday, Iwate police discovered one other lifeless man, allegedly killed by a bear, whose head had been separated from his physique, officers mentioned.
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Then, on Saturday within the Nagano Prefecture, the physique of a 78-year-old man with a number of claw marks was discovered.
The victims are all believed to have been killed by bears, although investigations are nonetheless ongoing.
On Sunday, a Spanish vacationer was attacked by a bear at a bus cease within the Shirakawago settlement in Gifu Prefecture, the Japanese Instances mentioned.
Among the many newest confirmed mauling fatalities is a lady in her 70s who died final week whereas selecting mushrooms within the Miyagi Prefecture. She was with three associates, certainly one of whom is lacking, it added.
Could 14, 2025: Picture taken on Could 14, 2025, reveals a bear and two cubs strolling on a street in Shiretoko Nationwide Park within the northern Japanese city of Shari in Hokkaido. In Japan, sightings of bears coming all the way down to populated areas in the hunt for meals, in addition to stories of assaults on people by the animals, are on the rise.
(Credit score Picture: © Kyodonews through ZUMA Press)
Final Tuesday, two folks suffered minor accidents after a bear wandered right into a grocery retailer in Numata Metropolis, an city space northwest of Tokyo.
Japan’s nationwide public broadcaster, NHK, wrote that police had been referred to as to stories of a bear mendacity on prime of a buyer after it reportedly attacked an individual within the retailer’s car parking zone.
In response to AFP, the bear was roughly 1.4 metres lengthy and scoured the shop’s fish and sushi picks earlier than stamping on avocados within the fruit part.
The store, positioned close to mountainous areas the place bears are discovered, had by no means skilled a bear assault, Hiroshi Horikawa, a administration planning official on the grocery retailer chain, instructed AFP.
Experiences of bear assaults in Japan, together with in residential neighbourhoods, have grow to be extra widespread in recent times, partly attributable to a declining human inhabitants and local weather change, which have impacted bears’ entry to meals sources and, in flip, their hibernation cycles.
Bear populations are rising in Japan, which is house to 2 species of bears: the Japanese black bear and the Hokkaido brown bear.
In response to Reuters, Japanese bear populations are on the rise partly attributable to an ageing inhabitants {of professional} hunters struggling to handle them, in addition to broader conservation efforts that embody looking bans and a decline in rural human populations, leaving area for bears to increase their habitats.
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