Japan sees unprecedented rise in bear attacks this year

Japan is seeing an unprecedented increase in bear attacks this year and authorities warn that encounters between people and plantigrades could increase in the coming weeks as the animals are now gathering food before their hibernation.

According to data from the Japanese Ministry of the Environment, between April and September (first half of the Japanese fiscal year) 109 people were recorded injured by Asiatic bears or Ussuri brown bears, They live exclusively on the northern island of Hokkaido.

This is the highest figure recorded in the first six months of a financial year since the Government began compiling data in 2007.

The majority of meetings, 70%, took place in prefectures in the northeast of Honshu, the main island of the Japanese archipelago, such as Akita, Iwate and Fukushima.

During these six months, two such attacks, one in Iwate and another in Hokkaido, were fatal, and another case is suspected in Toyama, central Honshu.

Local authorities believe that the reason for this increase in the number of encounters is that, on the one hand, the number of offspring increased last year due to the abundance of nuts and acorns.

In turn, this year we have seen a shortage of this type of fruit, which leads bears to venture into areas closer to human habitats, especially at the current time, when they look for food more vigorously as they prepare to hibernate.

Source: Elcomercio

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I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.