Overview
- Troops began operations in Kazuno after the Defense Ministry and Akita prefecture signed an agreement on Wednesday that prohibits soldiers from using guns.
- Soldiers are setting baited box traps, transporting licensed hunters and helping remove carcasses, with plans to extend work to Odate and Kitaakita through November.
- Since April, more than 100 people have been injured and at least 12 killed nationwide, with incidents reported near schools, train stations, supermarkets and hot springs.
- Akita has been hardest hit, recording over 8,000 sightings this year and more than 50 people attacked since May, while two-thirds of fatalities occurred in Akita and neighboring Iwate.
- Officials cite rising bear populations, climate-linked food shortages, rural depopulation and fewer active hunters, as a national taskforce drafts mid-November measures and bear-safety firms’ shares surge.