A scary video from Hokkaido Island in Japan shows a big bear running straight at a car and hitting it hard with both paws. The bear left deep scratches and dents all over the front of the car. This happened at Kuwata Ranch after the bear got into the property where horses are kept.
In the video, you can see the bear moving very fast toward the car. Then it slams into the vehicle with a loud bang while the driver is backing up to get away. The ranch posted pictures later showing how badly the bear damaged the car with its claws.
According to The Sun, a worker at the ranch was just doing his normal job of feeding the animals on Thursday night when the bear showed up. The ranch owner said the worker made it out safely and the car was the only thing that got damaged. “There was no other damage apart from what’s seen in the footage, and the employee is safe,” he said. “Please be extremely careful if you live nearby or travel through the area.”
This is now the deadliest year on record
Bear problems in Japan have gotten really bad this year. From April until now, 13 people have died from bear attacks across the country. That is more deaths than any other year since the government started keeping track. Between April and September alone, people spotted bears more than 20,000 times, which is already more than all of last year.
Most of the attacks have happened in Hokkaido and the northeastern part of Honshu island. A week ago, a man in his 50s got attacked in Fukushima and the bear scratched the back of his head badly. A helicopter had to fly him to a hospital in Akita city, which was 37 miles away, so doctors could save his life. Just a few days before that, another man in his 80s got attacked in the same town.
Up north in Iwate, a 60-year-old man named Katsumi Sasazaki disappeared while he was cleaning a bath outside his house. When police checked the area, they found blood and bear fur. People living in these areas say the bears are coming much closer to houses and stores than before. Experts think this is happening because the bears cannot find enough food in the wild before they need to sleep through winter.
Because things have gotten so bad, Japan’s Self-Defense Forces have been deployed to help out. The soldiers carry shields, special spray to keep bears away, and protective clothing. But they are not allowed to shoot the bears. Instead, they set up big traps to catch them and then move the bears far away from where people live.
The government has also made a special map that shows where bears have been seen. Anyone can look at this map online in Japanese or English to see which mountain paths and tourist spots might be dangerous.
Some towns are now flying drones around that play loud noises like dogs barking or fireworks going off to scare bears away. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi promised the government would take “necessary measures one after another with a sense of urgency” to keep people safe. The Japanese military has a unique history of deployment in various challenging situations throughout the nation’s past.
