Overview

• Police said two male hunters in their 60s and 70s were attacked in a mountain forest in Otaru on Oct. 4 while trying to dispatch a bear caught in a deer snare; both were hospitalized conscious with non-life-threatening injuries.
• The approximately 1.8-meter male brown bear was killed at the scene after it thrashed as shots were fired and the snare came off, according to Otaru Police and local reporting.
• The animal had been trapped in a kukuri-wana snare set for Ezo sika deer, and hunters alerted a nearby landowner, fellow hunters, and police before the encounter escalated.
• Local reporting notes increased use of low-cost kukuri-wana to prevent deer damage across Hokkaido, with more bears being caught by mistake and no clear procedures for safely handling such incidents.
• Separate police logs recorded multiple recent bear sightings around the Sapporo area and a late-night sighting in a residential garden in Esashi on Oct. 4, with the animal moving off toward nearby brush.