Bear sightings and attacks continue across Japan as the animals have begun to encroach further into urban areas, terrifying residents and causing disruptions.
Following last year’s unprecedented number of reported bear sightings — and a record death toll of 13 — bears have remained active across the country this year, with deadly consequences. As of the beginning of June, there have already been five deaths caused by bears this year, according to the Environment Ministry.
Beyond the fatalities, what has been especially notable this year is the bears’ willingness to increasingly roam into urban areas.
Last week, a bear was captured in the central city of Utsunomiya in Tochigi Prefecture after it made its way through a university, shopping arcades and schools over three days, scaring residents and forcing schools to cancel classes.
A week earlier, four people were injured in a residential area in the city of Fukushima after an “extremely intelligent” bear found its way into a factory. It reportedly turned on faucets to get water and escaped traps set up to capture it.
Koji Yamazaki, head of the Ibaraki Nature Museum and an expert on bear activities, says the increased presence of bears in urban areas is most likely due to either the animals living closer to human residential areas in the first place or their becoming increasingly used to people.
“A significant number (of bears) were culled last year, so I don’t think the number of bears have gone up dramatically,” Yamazaki says. “Rather, it’s highly likely that more bears have become too accustomed to being around human beings.”
Known for their intelligence, bears are quick to adapt to different environments. They have quickly learned, for example, where they can go within cities to obtain food, and as they continue to have success in such places without encountering deterrents, some bears now understand they can safely enter human-populated areas — something they knew to avoid in the past when humans posed a bigger threat to them. Fewer hunters and people living near bear habitats who could deter them from getting too close have exacerbated the problem.
“Bears are learning to lose their fear of people and their sense that humans are something to avoid, and as a result, they do not mind entering residential areas,” says Toshio Tsubota, a professor of wildlife biology and medicine at Hokkaido University.
As for the increased activity during this season, Yamazaki says it is not so much about a lack of nuts, which motivated the bears last fall to move beyond their normal territories.
“June is mating season for bears, and large males tend to roam across wide areas in search of females — that was probably the…
