THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
nationthailand

Bear attacks surging in Japan

Bear attacks surging in Japan

Bear attacks have increased in various parts of Japan since the beginning of August, which has prompted warnings for people to take precautions.

In Akita Prefecture, bears attacked cows, while people were injured by bears in Gunma and Nagano prefectures. The lack of food largely due to a poor harvest of nuts and an increase in abandoned farmlands have driven bears to seek food over wider areas. As bears generally become active in summer before hibernation, experts have raised the alarm.

On Aug. 11 and 17, two cows in a barn were attacked by bears. In early August, milk powder and feed in the barn were found scattered about and the windows of a hut adjacent to the barn were broken.

"I'm scared to think bears might attack people next," said a 66-year-old cattle farmer, who raises about 30 dairy cows in Kazuno, Akita Prefecture.

As of Thursday, there have been 43 cases this year of bears damaging agricultural products in the prefecture, up by 25 from a year earlier. Of these, 33 cases occurred in August. Five instances of bear attacks on humans have occurred this year, resulting in six people suffering from mild to serious injuries.

In July, the Akita prefectural government set up a black bear damage support center, which is tasked with analyzing damage caused by the animal and proposing countermeasures to municipalities. At a seminar held in Kazuno on Friday, Mami Kondo, 36, of the center said, "We can prevent bears from nearing human dwellings by cutting the tall grass that bears can use to hide in, as well as by not leaving discarded farm products lying around in the fields."

At the Konashidaira Camping Ground in the Kamikochi area of Nagano Prefecture, bears damaged tents on Aug. 8 to 9, forcing the campsite to be closed until the creatures cannot be spotted. At the time of the incident, a woman from Tokyo was mauled by a bear, resulting in a leg wound that required 10 stitches. About 500 people were at the campsite.

Bears have often been seen since late July scavenging for food and rooting through garbage left by campsite visitors.

Surrounded by beech trees, the Tanbara Wetland in Numata, Gunma Prefecture, is popular for its walking trail. In recent years, there have been no reports of bear sightings, but on Aug. 4 a bear bit and broke the left arm of a 71-year-old woman from Maebashi. The city government has since installed more warning signs.

A poor harvest of nuts such as from beech and mizunara oak, a phenomenon that occurred last year, is also expected this autumn in Niigata Prefecture.

In fiscal 2019, there were 16 cases of bear attacks on humans in the prefecture and 20 people were injured - the most since fiscal 1994 when record-keeping began. Nine of them occurred in urban areas.

According to the Niigata prefectural government's environmental planning section, the estimated range of bears' habitats was 6,249 square kilometers in fiscal 2007, but in fiscal 2016, it expanded by more than 1.5 times to 9,627 square kilometers.

According to the Environment Ministry, 157 people were attacked by bears across the nation in fiscal 2019, the most in the past decade. This year, there were 4,505 reports of bears being spotted from 37 prefectures from April to June, with the number of such cases soaring since May.

"As hilly and mountainous areas are increasingly underpopulated due to the nation's shrinking population and the increasing amount of abandoned farmland, it has become easier for bears to approach human dwellings," said an official of the ministry's wildlife protection and management office.

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