Overview
- A roughly 100‑kilogram Asiatic black bear was sedated and captured on Tuesday after a four‑day search that used drones, helicopters and dozens of police, hunters and veterinarians.
- All 94 municipal primary and middle schools in Utsunomiya were closed as a safety precaution during the hunt, with classes cancelled for multiple days while teams patrolled neighbourhoods and campuses.
- Officials said veterinarians fired multiple tranquilliser darts before succeeding, no one was injured in Utsunomiya and the city is still deciding the animal’s fate.
- Authorities remain cautious about other animals in the area because separate recent incidents include a bear that injured four people in Fukushima and reports could not initially rule out multiple bears.
- The episode comes as Japan records a sharp rise in bear sightings and casualties, prompting a national task force and a government plan to boost local control capacity, increase traps and allow targeted measures where risk to people is high.