How Japan's black bears became a deadly problem

August 30, 2024 10:04 AM

How Japan's black bears became a deadly problem. Japan recorded 219 bear attacks on people in the 12 months leading up to March 2024, including six fatalities. The situation is becoming so severe that government officials have warned some bears are viewing humans as prey.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries (22 comments total)

Yikes. It's genuinely horrifying for the people and also a extreme example of what could happen due to hangriness.

One of the drivers behind bear attacks is because their food supply is becoming more insecure, due to climate change impacting pollination and flowering of some food sources.

Some bears are now skipping or delaying hibernation as a result, making them crankier and hungrier.

posted by spamandkimchi at 10:20 AM on August 30 [2 favorites]

You can get brain worms from eating humans.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 10:29 AM on August 30 [6 favorites]

yeah, it seems like climate change and human density are stressing out a lot of animals. I hate to say it but I think things like this will become more common, not just in Japan, but around the world. what an awful situation.
posted by supermedusa at 10:42 AM on August 30 [4 favorites]

I was worried by the off-hand mention of fighting bears with robot wolves….
posted by GenjiandProust at 10:53 AM on August 30 [1 favorite]

I was worried by the off-hand mention of fighting bears with robot wolves….

I've seen the robot wolves in action in a nature documentary (I think David Attenborough?)

The robot wolves are basically fancy electronic scarecrows - they move on the spot and make scary noises, which sometimes makes the bears move on.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 11:01 AM on August 30 [2 favorites]

"In other countries, I think there are jobs like forest rangers, but here in Japan, we don't have such jobs," apprentice Yusuke Fujishima says.

That seems like a reasonable measure - wonder why they haven't done so already.
posted by davidmsc at 11:06 AM on August 30 [1 favorite]

I am wondering if they can learn something from how BC manages it? We live in one of the areas known for bears. (There was a bear on the school playground during the summer.) The garbage rules are strict - like 7am curbside picked up by 730am strict. Also any bears that hint at aggression are either immediately relocated to the interior or sadly killed (less than one a year I think). I wonder if that keeps the aggression low.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 11:11 AM on August 30

"When a bear is captured, the cullers administer a deadly electric shock, killing the bear quickly and efficiently." Not an expert on electrocuting things, but given that the electric chair - about as controlled and scientific as this process can get - regularly ended up botching the process, e.g. setting fire to the prisoner or requiring multiple attempts - it seems sadly unlikely that there is much that is quick or efficient about this.
posted by senor biggles at 11:20 AM on August 30 [2 favorites]

less than one a year I think

Um no. It's more like 400+ a year.
posted by senor biggles at 11:28 AM on August 30 [5 favorites]

Mr Harada has an excellent Super Villain origin story.
posted by hairless ape at 11:35 AM on August 30 [2 favorites]

given that the electric chair - about as controlled and scientific as this process can get - regularly ended up botching the process, e.g. setting fire to the prisoner or requiring multiple attempts - it seems sadly unlikely that there is much that is quick or efficient about this.

Electric chairs aren't really all that sophisticated nor particularly scientific. Compare and contrast with Electronarcosis (stunning) and Electrocution (killing) of meat animals like pigs, cows or sheep. Mind you we also bleed food animals after electrocution, something that probably wouldn't play well for executions in the US at this time.

. It's more like 400+ a year.

And very few bears are successfully relocated. Bear territories are huge, often involving travels of hundreds of miles. Moving a bear a few hours away does little to prevent them returning. The cynical adage is "a fed bear is a dead bear".
posted by Mitheral at 12:05 PM on August 30 [3 favorites]

The cynical adage is "a fed bear is a dead bear"

Yeah, my one bear encounter was in a Provincial camp ground (car camping) and when I saw the bear my main emotion was anger at the people that didn't stow their food away because that bear was going to be killed, if not then then the next time.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 12:29 PM on August 30 [4 favorites]

Uh oh, sounds like the humans have once more exceeded their natural resource limit, time to send in the kaiju. (To be clear, that is not a Japan-specific sentiment on my part, despite its status as the kaiju homeland.)
posted by cupcakeninja at 1:17 PM on August 30 [2 favorites]

I'd like to make clear that Ursus americanus and Ursus thibetanus japonicus are different species both commonly called black bears. The former rarely hurt people.
posted by Press Butt.on to Check at 1:27 PM on August 30 [18 favorites]

Thanks, Press Butt.on to Check, you saved me a few clicks, I was just about to look that up.
posted by mollweide at 2:25 PM on August 30

We used to have bear encounters every year, living in Vermont's mountains.

Sometimes they would be brief affairs, especially on roads. Once, driving my kids home from school over the 1 1/2 lane main (dirt) road in our town's north side, a bear family charged across the road, from woods to stream. Several times I saw bears in forests as I walked or drove. A couple of times bears checked out our trash bins and big compost piles out back.

One direct encounter: a late morning, I was in the house, working, when the dog went insane. Rooing and barking, scrabbling at the door. I peered through the kitchen window and saw a big black bear trundling downslope from the road (1 lane, dirt) above the house, ambling in the direction of our chickens. Without thinking I ran outside and clapped loudly, hollering "Mr. Bear, get outta here! Back to the other woods with you!" The critter gracefully executed a 180 and pawed his way upslope. When he was gone I realized I'd forgotten camera, phone, and gun inside.
posted by doctornemo at 2:39 PM on August 30 [3 favorites]

We had the police come around to the place we were staying in southern Hokkaido earlier this month, to warn us that a bear had been spotted in the area. They also left a leaflet with a link to this video by the Hokkaido Prefectural Police, which includes (from 00:34) rather scary footage of a bear attacking a moving vehicle in the forest. Not sure if the bear spray and bear bell recommended at the end of the video would have done much if you had encountered that particular bear when hiking!
posted by mydonkeybenjamin at 6:15 PM on August 30 [1 favorite]

I should add that the bear in the video is a brown bear, so not the same as the black bears discussed in the main article.
posted by mydonkeybenjamin at 6:18 PM on August 30 [1 favorite]

The black bears I see in California National Forests seem to be pretty well-behaved? That said, I mostly stick to the coastal mountains, not the Sierras, so I haven't been to the worst spots. And I don't go to National Parks.

My theory is that bold bears in National Forests get shot during deer season, when every third deer hunter is carrying a $60 bear tag 'just in case'. But I try to stay out of the forest during deer season, so I'm not really sure how true this is.
posted by ryanrs at 7:07 PM on August 30

Can we introduce bears to billionaires? Orcas have set a standard for them to follow.
posted by theora55 at 8:41 PM on August 30 [8 favorites]

Can we introduce bears to billionaires?

I am afraid the bears will learn the wrong things, and we’ll get billionbears instead, which are just as bad on privacy, personal autonomy, and economic destruction, but who also dig through your literal garbage.
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:37 AM on August 31 [6 favorites]

Oh, BEARS . . . I read the title as How Japan's black beans became a deadly problem and the racist part of my 'mind' went on a journey about unregulated Bacillus ferments gone horribly wrong. My bad, on several levels.
posted by BobTheScientist at 10:08 AM on August 31 [1 favorite]