GRAPHIC-Bear attacks are increasing in Japan. Aging hunters are on the front line.

A gunshot rang out on a recent morning in a meadow in northern Japan. The brown bear plunged in the cage, enjoyed by a handful of city authorities and hunters.

The bear had been wandering around a close-by home and consuming its way through surrounding cornfields, so officials and hunters in Sunagawa city had actually set a trap with a deer carcass to draw the starved animal.

For me, it's constantly a bit deflating when a bear gets caught, Haruo Ikegami, 75, who heads the local hunters' association, informed Reuters hours in advance.

Japan is coming to grips with a growing bear issue. A dwindling band of aging hunters is on the cutting edge.

A record 219 people were victims of bear attacks, 6 of them deadly, in the 12 months through March 2024, while more than 9,000 black and brown bears were trapped and chosen over that duration, according to Japan's environment ministry ( To see the full story, go to )

Both types' habitats have been broadening; the ministry. quotes that the variety of brown bears in Hokkaido, Japan's. northern island, more than doubled to about 11,700 in the 3. years through 2020. (It does not keep quotes on black bears,. most of which live on the main island of Honshu, though a widely. cited 2023 analysis by Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun paper. estimated their numbers at roughly 44,000, a threefold increase. considering that 2012.). Restrictions on searching practices and higher emphasis on. preservation added to a rise in bear sightings over. recent decades, according to Japan's Forest Research and. Management Organisation. With Japan's rural areas experiencing. fast demographic decline, bears are venturing closer to towns. and towns and into deserted farmland, an environment. ministry specialist panel said in February. But bear know-how among local governments is spotty, and. Japan's reliance on leisure hunters to secure settlements. looks unsustainable as its population ages, according to Reuters. interviews with nearly two lots individuals, including professionals,. hunters, officials and locals.

Numerous called for changes to the way Japan handles human-bear. conflict to address safety concerns while ensuring a future for. the bears.

In Hokkaido cities and towns like Sunagawa, Naie, Iwamizawa. and Takikawa, which Reuters checked out in October, some residents. wonder what will take place when hunters can no longer do the job.

Toru Yoshino, a 66-year-old chicken farmer in Sunagawa, stated. he was terrified by a bear that would roam into his farm a. couple of years earlier. As local authorities weighed how to react, they. ultimately counted on the hunters' association, the Sunagawa. Ryoyukai, to neutralise the hazard, he stated.

Sunagawa's local government told Reuters that efforts to. capture the bear were complicated by its proximity to homes and. considerations about what to do as soon as the animal was caught.

Although some hunters stalk bears as a hobby, Ikegami. reckons not many are delighted about culling caught bears for. local governments.

I don't desire individuals to think of hunting as something. fashionable. What we do is difficult. It's a huge concern to take. a life, he said.

The burden is both mental and monetary. The hunter that shot. the bear in Sunagawa would get about 8,000 yen (about $50),. possibly enough to cover fuel and costs however little else,. Ikegami said.

Hunters also run the risk of clashing with authorities. Ikegami's weapons. were taken by Hokkaido authorities in 2019 after they considered. his attempt to shoot a bear near a house was ill-judged. He is. fighting in court to have the weapons returned. The Hokkaido. security officials associated with the matter decreased to attend to. Reuters concerns about the case.

In response to increased bear attacks, Japanese government. authorities this year proposed relaxing guidelines around gun use to. make it much easier for hunters to shoot bears in urban locations.

City governments of Sunagawa, Takikawa and Iwamizawa told. Reuters that local and nationwide authorities could go even more. to deal with the issue. This might include promoting the. recruitment of hunters and improving their conditions, amongst. other ideas.

Japan's environment ministry stated it subsidises efforts to. train regional authorities and carry out bear drills in the areas, but. added that regional distinctions in human-bear conflicts called. for tailor-made approaches. The Hokkaido government's wildlife. bureau stated it ran numerous efforts to incentivise and. recruit hunters, consisting of promotional events and training. people in how to manage brown bears.

Ecological group WWF stated in an email that to preserve. Japan's bear population, authorities should act. including developing human-wildlife buffer zones and formulating. a nationwide defense and management plan. It declined to. comment specifically on the culling of bears in Japan.

While its numbers have been growing in Japan, the Asiatic. black bear is noted as vulnerable on the IUCN's red list of. threatened species globally. The brown bear is noted as least. concern.

AGING

Bear hunting was financially rewarding till the 1980s, and conceal and. bile were traded for high costs. However with growing ecological. awareness and modifications to regulations and customer tastes, the. practice has fallen out of favour.

Japan provided some 218,500 searching licences in the 2020. , less than half of the 517,800 it released in 1975,. according to official information. While about 98% of those provided in. 1975 were for shooting, that figure dropped to 42% in 2020, the. latest data. The remaining licences are for trapping. About. 60% of licence holders were aged over 60, according to 2020. information.

Searching is pricey, unattractive, and exhausting, the. hunters state.

Traps require to be examined daily while bears prowl nearby. Rifle owners must follow Japan's stringent guns laws and. buy ammo and weapon storage.

Those troubles came to a head previously this year in Naie,. where hunter Tatsuhito Yamagishi, 72, implicated the local. government of taking hunters for given, without purchasing a. longer-term service.

As soon as we grow old and have no option however to give up, this. reliance on the hunters' association is not going to work,. Yamagishi stated.

Naie's local government declined to discuss the dispute. with Yamagishi but said authorities were taking actions to resolve. the bear issue, including working with certified hunters from. outside the area.

Some professionals, consisting of Koji Yamazaki, a professor at Tokyo. University of Agriculture who studies bears, stated depopulation. and a decrease in the quantity of managed farmland in current. decades may have led bears to end up being bolder about approaching. towns. Clearer demarcation between habitats would help human beings. and bears coexist, he said.

Yoshikazu Sato, professor of farming at Rakuno Gakuen. University, said bears appeared to be raising cubs closer to. human settlements, causing young bears not to fear people as. much as previously. Climate change-driven shifts in the ripening and. flowering of fruits, nuts and leaves may drive bears to rob. crops when their usual food sources are low, he included.

What we require is a daily, constant effort to make sure. that bears don't get in human locations, Sato said.

BEAST WOLF

Katsuo Harada, an 84-year-old hunter, stated that ultimately,. Japan ought to create a system where hunters are paid enough to. support a household. Unless they're paid correctly, we can't. support the next generation of hunters, he stated.

Harada brings the scars of a bear attack more than twenty years. ago, when the animal sank its teeth into his skull.

It sounded like it was munching on some raw radish, he. said.

He battled the bear, and his searching buddies called for. aid. The subsequent surgery took 16 hours, he stated.

Harada is now part of a non-profit organisation, Farming. Assistance Hokkaido, that assists neighborhoods keep troublesome. wildlife at bay.

If I do not keep doing my job, there might fall,. Harada stated.

Japan's environment ministry in September cautioned about the. possibility of a rise in bear attacks towards year-end, when. the animals typically scavenge for food to accumulate fat for. hibernation. In 2023, bear sightings and attacks peaked in. October, according to main information. With Japan's population aging and shrinking, some companies are. turning to technology to manage bears.

Propped on four rods, the Beast Wolf robot sold by. Sapporo-based Wolf Kamuy releases grumbles, barks and risks from a. loudspeaker, triggered by a sensing unit.

Priced at about 400,000 yen (approximately $2,550) and powered by. solar power, the gleaming-eyed beast has demonstrated some. success in warding off bears, though its sensor can be triggered. by other animals, said business vice-president Yuji Ohta.

However Yamagishi, the hunter in Naie, stated it takes years of. analysing pawprints and dung and discovering to read bears' indications. to comprehend how to trap them, including that human knowledge will. remain essential to managing the problem.

Yamagishi believes it would take three to 5 years to train. a new generation of hunters.

Already, we'll all be retired, he stated.

(source: Reuters)