Japan deploys the military to counter a surge in bear attacks

TOKYO (AP) — Japan deployed troops Wednesday to help contain a surge of bear attacks that have terrorized residents in a mountainous region in the northern prefecture of Akita.

Reports of sometimes deadly encounters with brown bears and Asiatic black bears are being reported almost daily ahead of hibernation season as the bears forage for food. They have been seen near schools, train stations, supermarkets and at a hot springs resort.

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

The growing bear population’s encroachment into residential areas is happening in a region with a rapidly aging and declining human population, with few people trained to hunt the animals.

The government has estimated the overall bear population at more than 54,000.

Soldiers will not open fire

The Defense Ministry and Akita prefecture signed an agreement Wednesday to deploy soldiers who will set box traps with food, transport local hunters and help dispose of dead bears. Officials say the soldiers will not use firearms to cull the bears.

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

The operation began in a forested area in Kazuno city, where a number of bear sightings and injuries have been reported. White-helmeted soldiers wearing bulletproof vests and carrying bear spray and net launchers set up a bear trap near an orchard.

Takahiro Ikeda, an orchard operator, said bears have eaten more than 200 of his apples that were ready for harvest. “My heart is broken,” he told NHK television.

Akita Gov. Kenta Suzuki said local authorities were getting “desperate” due to a lack of manpower.

Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said Tuesday the bear mission aims to help secure people's daily lives, but that service members' primary mission is national defense and they cannot provide unlimited support for the bear response. The Japanese Self-Defense Forces are already understaffed.

The ministry has not received requests from other prefectures for troop assistance over the bear issue, he said.

Most attacks 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 the local government. Experts say most attacks have occurred in residential areas.

An older woman who went mushroom-hunting in the forest was found dead in an apparent attack over the weekend in Yuzawa city. Another older woman in Akita city was killed after encountering a bear while working on a farm in late October. A newspaper delivery man was attacked and injured in Akita city on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, a resident of Akita city spotted two bears on a persimmon tree in her garden. She was indoors and filmed the bears as they walked around for about 30 minutes. She told a local TV network the bears appeared at one point to want to enter the room she was in, and she moved away from the window.

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

A call for training more hunters

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