Japan’s military yesterday deployed troops to the country’s mountainous north to help trap bears after an urgent request from local authorities struggling to cope with a wave of attacks.
The operation began in the town of Kazuno, where residents for weeks have been told to avoid the thick forests that surround it, stay home after dark and carry bells to deter bears that might forage near their homes for food.
There have been more than 100 bear attacks, with a record 12 people killed across Japan in the year since April, the Japanese Ministry of the Environment said.
Photo: JSDF Akita Camp via AP
Two-thirds of the deaths were in Akita Prefecture, where Kazuno is located, and nearby Iwate.
“The townspeople feel the danger every day,” Kazuno Mayor Shinji Sasamoto said after meeting 15 or so soldiers who rolled into town in an army truck and several jeeps, equipped with body armor and large maps.
“It has affected how people live their lives forcing them to stop going out or cancel events,” Sasamoto said.
Photo: Reuters
The troops would help transport, set and inspect the box traps used to capture the bears, but they are culled by trained hunters with weapons more suited to that purpose.
Authorities in Akita said bear sightings have risen sixfold this year to more than 8,000, prompting the prefecture’s governor last week to request help from Japan Self-Defense Forces.
After Kazuno, a town of about 30,000 people known for its hot springs, dramatic landscapes and sweet apples, the soldiers would head to the cities of Odate and Kitaakita under an agreement due to last until the end of the month.
Rising bear numbers, climate change-driven shifts in natural food sources and depopulation of rural areas are increasingly bringing people into contact with bears in Japan. An aging band of hunters that authorities once relied on are overwhelmed.
In the past few weeks, bears have attacked customers inside a supermarket, jumped a tourist waiting at a bus stop near a UNESCO World Heritage site and mutilated a worker at a hot spring resort. Some schools have had to temporarily close after bears were spotted wandering in and around their grounds.
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