Japan deploys the military to counter a surge in bear attacks : NPR

TOKYO — Japan deployed troops Wednesday to help stem a wave of bear attacks terrorizing residents of a mountainous region in the northern Akita prefecture.

Reports of sometimes fatal encounters with brown bears and Asiatic black bears come in almost daily in the lead-up to the bears' hibernation season, when they forage for food. They have been seen near schools, train stations, supermarkets and at a hot spring resort.

Since April, more than 100 people have been injured and at least 12 killed in bear attacks across Japan, according to the Ministry of Environment as of late October.

The encroachment of a growing bear population into residential areas comes in a region with a rapidly aging and declining population, and few people trained to hunt the animals.

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

The soldiers won't open fire

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. Officials say soldiers will not use firearms to shoot the bears.

“Every day, bears are invading residential areas in the region and their impact is expanding,” Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Fumitoshi Sato told reporters. “Solving the bear problem is an urgent matter.”

The operation began in a forested area in the city of Kazuno, where a number of bear sightings and injuries were reported. Soldiers wearing white helmets, body armor, and bear spray and netting set up a bear trap near an orchard.

Takahiro Ikeda, the orchard's operator, said the bears ate more than 200 apples that were ready to be picked. “My heart is broken,” he told NHK television.

Akita Governor Kenta Suzuki said local authorities were “desperate” over labor shortages.

Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said Tuesday that the bear control mission is aimed at ensuring the safety of people's daily lives, but military personnel's primary mission is national defense and they cannot provide unlimited support in response to bear activity. The Japanese Self-Defense Forces are already understaffed.

The ministry has not received requests from other prefectures to help troops with the bear problem, he said.

Most attacks occurred in residential areas

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

An elderly woman who went to the forest to pick mushrooms was found dead in a suspected attack over the weekend in the city of Yuzawa. Another elderly woman in Akita was killed after she encountered a bear while working on her farm in late October. A newspaper delivery boy was attacked and injured in Akita City on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, an Akita resident spotted two bears in a persimmon tree in her garden. She was indoors and filmed how the bears walked for about 30 minutes. She told local television that at some point the bears appeared and wanted to enter the room she was in, so she moved away from the window.

Abandoned neighborhoods and farmland with persimmon or chestnut trees often attract bears to residential areas. Experts say that once the bears find food, they keep coming back.

Call for training more hunters

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

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

Last week the government created a working group to organize official bear control by mid-November. Officials are considering conducting surveys of the bear population, using communication devices to warn about bears and making changes to hunting regulations.

The lack of preventive measures in the northern regions has led to an increase in the bear population, the department reported.