Governor of Akita calls for military help amid rising bear attacks
The governor of Japan’s Akita prefecture has called for military assistance to protect residents from an unprecedented wave of bear attacks, reports BritPanorama.
Governor Kenta Suzuki stated in an Instagram post on Sunday that “exhaustion on the ground is reaching its limit.” He expressed intentions to request a bear cull to address the ongoing crisis.
Shinjiro Koizumi, Japan’s new defense minister, is scheduled to meet with Suzuki on Tuesday morning, following the governor’s urgent plea for help.
This request follows a recent incident in Akita where a bear attack resulted in one death and three injuries. Local authorities reported 54 individuals have been killed or injured in bear encounters this year, a sharp increase from 11 last year, alongside a sixfold rise in sightings to over 8,000 incidents.
Factors contributing to this alarming trend include increasing bear populations and depopulation in rural areas, which intensify human-bear interactions. Many encounters have been reported in towns and villages where bears forage for food, with several instances of bears entering residential homes and even supermarkets.
The aging population in Japan further complicates the situation, as fewer qualified hunters are available to manage bear populations and mitigate the risks associated with these encounters.
Japanese black bears, prevalent across the country, can weigh over 300 pounds, while brown bears found on Hokkaido can weigh almost 900 pounds. As a precautionary measure, Akita has begun distributing bear-repellent spray along school routes to enhance children’s safety, according to Governor Suzuki.
