Overview

• Yonezawa City corrected its report, determining that only one bear was present in a residential thicket after a drone’s infrared image was later judged to be a sun-warmed garden stone.
• Mayor Yosuke Kondo authorized emergency shooting under the post‑September system, but no firing occurred because dusk ended the legal conditions for using firearms.
• The single bear had already been caught in a box trap by the time the permit was in place, and authorities subsequently lifted the alert.
• Police and local hunter representatives reviewed the scene on October 7 and agreed there was no evidence of a second animal.
• The incident highlights how municipalities are applying Japan’s new urban wildlife response framework with permits, traps, and tight safety constraints.