A person in Japan was mauled to demise by a bear on Friday, the identical week a bear pounced at shoppers at a grocery retailer in an space north of Tokyo and one other particular person was discovered decapitated in a suspected bear attack, marking an uptick in such confrontations, Japanese officers stated.
In line with the Japan Times, a person in his 70s who went lacking after going to reap mushrooms within the woods was discovered useless after a mauling.
“We suspect he was attacked by a bear based mostly 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 beneath investigation, together with the person discovered on Friday, might end in a document variety of bear-related deaths within the nation since 2023, in accordance with the AFP.
On Wednesday, Iwate police discovered one other useless man, allegedly killed by a bear, whose head had been separated from his physique, officers stated.
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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 Occasions stated.
Among the many newest confirmed mauling fatalities is a girl in her 70s who died final week whereas selecting mushrooms within the Miyagi Prefecture. She was with three mates, one in every of whom is lacking, it added.
Might 14, 2025: Picture taken on Might 14, 2025, exhibits 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 seeking meals, in addition to studies 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 into a grocery store in Numata Metropolis, an city space northwest of Tokyo.
Japan’s nationwide public broadcaster, NHK, wrote that police have been known as to studies of a bear mendacity on prime of a buyer after it reportedly attacked an individual within the retailer’s parking zone.
According 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.
Stories of bear assaults in Japan, together with in residential neighbourhoods, have change into extra frequent in recent times, partly on account of a declining human population and climate change, which have impacted bears’ entry to meals sources and, in flip, their hibernation cycles.
Bear populations are rising in Japan, which is dwelling to 2 species of bears: the Japanese black bear and the Hokkaido brown bear.
In line with Reuters, Japanese bear populations are on the rise partly on account of an growing old 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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