Japan is stepping up its response to a record number of deadly bear attacks, local media reported Saturday.
Faced with a severe shortage of experienced hunters, the government has decided to encourage retired police officers and former soldiers to obtain hunting licenses, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported.
The move comes after Japan relaxed its strict gun laws, allowing police officers to use rifles against bears.
Since April, bears have killed 13 people across the country, the highest number ever, according to the Environment Ministry. Dozens more were injured.
Encounters between bears and people have become more frequent over the years. Experts point to the abandonment of farmland and rural depopulation as Japan's population shrinks and ages.
Another reason why hungry bears are increasingly entering residential areas is the lack of food in mountain forests, they say. Beech nuts, a major food source, have become scarce, probably also due to climate change.
Most of the attacks were reported in the northern prefectures of Iwate and Akita. The situation has become so serious that Akita Governor Kenta Suzuki recently visited the Ministry of Defense in Tokyo to request military support.
The military is currently helping local authorities set up live traps and remove and dispose of dead bears. The soldiers themselves do not shoot at the animals.
“People's lives and livelihoods are at risk,” Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said. The government plans to provide additional funding to hunters, whose numbers are declining and whose average age continues to rise.
Large populations of Asian black bears, or moon bears, live in the forested mountains of Honshu, Japan's main island. Akita officials estimate several thousand animals in the prefecture alone.
Thousands of brown bears also inhabit the northernmost island of Hokkaido.
