Bears used to be killed en masse in Japan. Now they are attacking people at record rates

From James Oaten And Sushi cuisineReuters

Katsuo Harada is all too familiar with the devastating power of bears in Japan after one of them nearly killed him while deer hunting.

The deep scars on his face and a missing eye are a constant reminder of how he escaped death 24 years ago.

“When I got to the hospital, everyone thought I wouldn’t make it,” he recalls, explaining that the surgery on his face took 16 hours.

“They repaired my face, my skin was peeled off (and) I lost one of my eyes.”

Harada’s injuries made him a local legend and inspired him to transform from deer hunter to bear hunter in an effort to protect his community.

After a record season of bear attacks, his expertise is needed now more than ever.

In Japan, 219 bear attacks on humans were recorded in the twelve months prior to March this year, including six fatalities.

This was the highest number of incidents and sightings since records began in 2006.

In the 1980s, bears were threatened with extinction in some parts of Japan following excessive culling and hunting. On the southern island of Kyushu, bears were declared extinct; the last bear was seen in 1987.

But there has been a sharp increase in the population recently: according to one estimate, the black bear population in Japan currently stands at 44,000 animals, three times the number in 2012. The brown bear population has doubled since 1990 to around 11,700.

This explosion, along with a population decline in Japan, has led to a blurring of the boundaries between humans and bear habitat.

As cities empty, hungry and increasingly confident bears venture into populated areas in search of food and territory.

The situation is becoming so serious that government officials have warned that some bears view humans as prey.

In search of hungry bears

Harada and his two young apprentices monitor bear traps on the outskirts of his village near Sapporo on the northern island of Hokkaido.

“I am 84 years old and even if I want to stop, I can’t,” he said.

“If we don’t teach younger people the basics, they will be killed.”

When a bear is captured, culling officers administer a lethal electric shock, which kills the bear quickly and efficiently.

It is a necessary step to enforce clearly defined zones for humans and bears, argue the culling advocates.

“We don’t take animals’ lives because we want to,” said Harada’s apprentice Atsushi Kanno.

“We take as few lives as necessary to protect human life.”

Harada is convinced that his bear traps have prevented major incidents in his village.

“We ensure the security of this village,” he said.

“There has never been a case of a bear coming near a house or anything like that. That’s something I’m proud of.”

But it is becoming increasingly difficult to meet this task.

“We caught 27 bears last year,” he said.

“The year before there were seventeen bears and the years before that there were five or six bears, so the number is increasing.”

Why bear attacks are increasing

After a hibernation period that usually lasts from late November to April, the bears began hibernation again in May.

Last month, two police officers were seriously injured in Japan’s northern Akita province while trying to recover a body following a suspected fatal bear attack.

The record number of bear attacks last year surpassed the previous record of 158 set in the 12 months beginning April 2020.

The authorities have come to a shocking conclusion.

“The bears know that people are there and attack them to get food, or they recognize the people themselves as food,” said Mami Kondo, an Akita government official.

“There is a high risk that the same bear will cause a series of incidents.”

Independent bear expert Kazuhiko Maita of the Institute for Asian Black Bear Research and Preservation agreed that some bears probably viewed humans as prey.

However, he said this only applies to certain areas of Akita and not to all of Japan.

“There are areas inhabited by bears that have inherited an aggressive family line,” he said.

“Therefore, these areas should be designated as special areas.”

Maita stressed that bear deaths remain rare and called for authorities to continue investing in non-lethal methods of bear control, such as electric fences.

One of the reasons for bear attacks is that their food supply is becoming more uncertain due to climate change, which is affecting the pollination and flowering of some food sources.

Some bears therefore skip or delay hibernation, which makes them moodier and hungrier.

It is a danger that the people of northern Japan have had to accept.

“If I have to go out (at night), I take the car, but I don’t leave the house on foot because I’m afraid of the bears here,” said Kazuyoshi Niwa, a Sapporo resident.

Bear hunting is viewed with mixed feelings by some, who believe that humans have invaded the bears’ traditional habitat.

“I think people in Hokkaido live with bears,” Niwa said.

“They do pest control work, but that has advantages and disadvantages.

“Unless it’s an urgent situation, I don’t think it’s necessary to kill them.”

Arguments for permanent park rangers in Japan

Harada can calmly talk about the moment he was attacked by a bear over two decades ago.

“I immediately picked up the gun and shot it,” Harada recalls.

“Then the bear took my gun, I got knocked down and then the bear was on top of me.

“It opened its mouth and gnawed, gnawed, gnawed, gnawed.”

He put his hand down the bear’s throat to stop it from biting his face before it passed out. His quick reaction saved his life.

The bear eventually let go and later died from the gunshot wound.

Harada keeps the skull of the bear that attacked him, but stresses that he respects the animals and bears no grudges toward them.

He does not believe that bears view humans as prey, but suspects that they may be defending themselves or looking for food that is in people’s hands.

However, he argues that human zones must be protected. However, it is difficult to find hunters to carry out the necessary culling because the municipality only pays per bear.

Harada and his two young apprentices want there to be a permanent presence of park rangers, following the example of Australia, to get the problem under control over decades.

“I think there are jobs like forest ranger in other countries, but there are no such jobs here in Japan,” said trainee Yusuke Fujishima.

At the moment he is trying to pass on his knowledge to the younger generation while he is still able.

“As far as bears are concerned, it takes a lifetime to learn,” Harada said.

ABC