Japan plans to hire hunters as bear attacks rise

The Japanese government plans to recruit hunters to cull bears, as anxiety grows in the country over the rise a sharp rise in bear attacks.

The environment ministry said on Thursday that it would set aside funds to hire licenced hunters and other personnel to tackle bears that have been wandering into residential areas and attacking people.

The move is among measures proposed on Thursday, after the country held its first ever high-level meeting to address the country’s growing bear problem.

Twelve people have died in bear attacks this year – the highest the country has recorded since it started tracking cases in the 2000s.

They include a man who had been delivering newspapers in Hokkaido and a 67-year-old man found dead in his garden in Iwate.

The government, which have described bears as a serious threat to public safety, is also considering allowing police officers to shoot bears with their rifles. Officials have until mid-November to finalise the slate of counter-measures to the rising bear attacks.

Bears have been spotted breaking into supermarkets and high schools, and attacking residents going about their daily lives.

There are two types of bears in Japan: the Japanese black bear and the larger, typically more aggressive, brown bear found on the island of Hokkaido.

More than 100 people have been injured by bears this year, including at least one foreigner who was attacked near a bus-stop at a popular tourist site.

The problem is especially pronounced in Akita prefecture, home to large mountain ranges in northern Japan, which have the highest number of casualties.

Authorities announced this week that Japan’s self-defence forces would be deployed help the Akita government capture and repel bears.

“The lives and livelihoods of people are under threat,” defence minister Shinjiro Koizumi said on Tuesday, Kyodo reported.

Under current laws the troops are prohibited from shooting bears – but they can help bear hunters with trapping and transporting dead bears.

Akita governor Kenta Suzuki said that the people tackling the bear problem on the ground have become “exhausted”.

Japan’s hunters are ageing, and their numbers are declining – in line with the dwindling popularity of hunting the mammal, once sought-after for their fur and bile.

This has left populations more vulnerable to attacks as bears increasingly wander into human habitats. Experts say the scarcity of beech nuts because of climate change could be driving hungry animals into people’s residences.

Declining populations in residential areas have also been cited as a factor.

In September, Japan relaxed its gun rules to make it easier for people to shoot bears in residential areas.