Japan Bear Attacks: Soldiers Deployed to North

TOKYO (AP) — Japan deployed the military Wednesday to contain a rise in the number of bear attacks that have terrorized residents of a mountainous region in northern Akita prefecture.

Encounters, sometimes fatal, with brown bears and Asiatic black bears are reported almost daily ahead of the hibernation season, as the bears forage for food. They have been seen near schools, train stations, supermarkets and at a hot springs complex.

Since April, more than 100 people have been injured and at least 12 have died in attacks by these mammals throughout Japan, according to Environment Ministry statistics released at the end of October.

The invasion of the growing bear population into residential areas occurs in a region with a rapidly aging and declining human population, so there are few people trained to hunt these animals.

The government estimates the total bear population to be more than 54,000.

The Defense Ministry and Akita Prefecture signed an agreement Wednesday to deploy soldiers who will set food traps, transport local hunters and help dispose of dead bears. Authorities say soldiers will not use firearms to reduce the population of these mammals.

“Every day, bears invade residential areas in the region and their impact is expanding,” Fumitoshi Sato, deputy chief cabinet secretary, told reporters. “Answers to the bear problem are an urgent matter.”

The operation began in a forested area of ​​Kazuno City, where several bear sightings and injuries have been reported. Soldiers wearing white helmets, bulletproof vests and equipped with bear spray and net launchers set up a trap near an orchard.

Takahiro Ikeda, an orchard operator, said the bears have eaten more than 200 of his apples that were ready for harvest. “I am heartbroken,” he told NHK television.

Akita Governor Kenta Suzuki said local authorities were “desperate” due to a lack of staff.

Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said Tuesday that the bear mission is intended to help protect people’s daily lives, but that the military’s primary mission is national defense and it cannot provide unlimited support to the response to the bear problem. The Japan Self-Defense Forces are understaffed.

The ministry has not received requests from other prefectures for troop assistance over the bear problem, he said.

In Akita prefecture, which has a population of about 880,000 people, bears have attacked more than 50 residents since May, killing at least four, according to the local government. Experts say most attacks have occurred in residential areas.

An elderly woman who went hunting for mushrooms in the forest was found dead over the weekend in an apparent attack in the city of Yuzawa. Another elderly woman from the city of Akita was killed after encountering a bear while working on a farm in late October. A newspaper delivery boy was attacked and injured in the city of Akita on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, a resident of the city of Akita spotted two bears in a persimmon tree in her yard. He was inside his house and filmed the animals as they walked around for about 30 minutes. He told a local television station that at one point the bears seemed to want to enter the room he was in, and he walked away from the window.

Abandoned neighborhoods and farmland with persimmon or chestnut trees often attract bears to residential areas. Once they find food, they return again and again, experts say.

Experts say Japan’s aging and declining population in rural areas is one reason for the growing problem. They say the bears are not endangered and must be controlled to keep the population under control.

Local hunters are also aging and are not used to hunting bears. Experts say police and other authorities should be trained as “government hunters” to help control the animals.

The government established a task force last week to create an official bear response by mid-November. Authorities are considering conducting bear population surveys, using communications devices to issue bear warnings and revisions to hunting rules.

The lack of preventive measures in the northern regions has caused an increase in the population of these animals, the ministry said.

AP video journalist Mayuko Ono contributed to this report.

This story was translated from English by an AP editor with the help of a generative artificial intelligence tool.