Japan’s bear problem is spiraling — and the government is taking drastic action.
After a record number of fatal bear attacks this year, officials now plan to recruit licensed hunters.
They will track and cull the animals encroaching on human settlements.
“The lives and livelihoods of people are under threat,” Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi warned this week.
Japan’s Self-Defence Forces were deployed to help in the worst-hit northern prefectures like Akita.
Though troops can’t shoot bears, they’ll assist with trapping and transporting them.
Twelve people have been killed and more than 100 injured so far — the highest toll since records began two decades ago.
Bears Push Into Towns
Bears have been breaking into homes, supermarkets, and even schools.
“Those on the ground are exhausted,” said Akita Governor Kenta Suzuki.
Experts blame climate change and shrinking food supplies, like beech nuts, for driving bears into human areas.
Japan’s shrinking, aging hunter population has only made the crisis harder to control.
Authorities are now considering giving police permission to shoot bears, while a final set of countermeasures is due by mid-November.
Two species — the smaller black bear and the more aggressive brown bear — are native to Japan.
And as one wildlife expert put it, “The bears aren’t invading — they’re just starving.”
