Overview
- The Environment Ministry reports a record 12 bear-related fatalities nationwide for the fiscal year as of October 30–31.
- The Ground Self-Defense Force is preparing to assist Akita Prefecture with transport of box traps and other backline tasks, with the defense minister stressing it will not conduct culling due to a lack of training and suitable firearms under Article 100 authorities.
- Sapporo is seeing a rapid rise in brown bear sightings, and a 35-member volunteer hunter unit is conducting high-risk urban removals that require highly precise brainstem-targeted shots to stop bears instantly.
- Community impacts are widening as Gakuhō Ishikawa High School withdrew from the November 6 Tohoku ekiden in Akita, following a shift from road to track racing because of repeated bear appearances along city routes.
- Agricultural and residential incidents continue, including a Yamagata coop attack caught on camera that killed 34 of 36 chicks in 17 minutes and new bear sightings reported to police in Setana and Kaminokuni in Hokkaido.