Overview
- At least seven people have been killed by bears since April, the highest toll since records began in 2006, with about 100 others injured.
- Investigators in Iwate found a body near an outdoor bath where a 60-year-old worker vanished, and hunters accompanying the search shot a bear in the area after locating human blood and fur.
- Rules were eased in September to let municipalities approve emergency shootings in populated areas, and Sendai executed the first such action this week.
- The revised law passed in April authorizes local officials to deploy licensed hunters to cull or capture bears, following a 2024 designation of bears for population control.
- Local governments reported 3,032 sightings in April and May, above a typical year, as experts cite habitat loss, food shortages in the wild and climate-driven shifts in hibernation.