Japan is fighting a war against hungry bears, and they’re quickly running out of options. A search is currently underway in Mount Esan, Hokkaido for a missing hunter, with the only evidence of what happened being an abandoned rifle and a set of ominous bloodstains. A large bear – the prime suspect – was spotted in the vicinity just days ago
If this poor man was killed by a bear, he’ll just be the latest casualty in Japan’s bear attack epidemic. On Jul. 12, a 52-year-old newspaper deliveryman was found dead in the bushes, his body torn apart by violent claw strikes. The culprit bear was spotted but stubbornly refused to retreat even when met with angry shouts from witnesses.
Police patrol around the clock in Hokkaido town after deadly bear attack | #NHK WORLD-JAPAN News#News #Hokkaido #Japan https://t.co/b3M1YhnrRF pic.twitter.com/dTO3m1Ftub
— HM: Trip(@HitoshiMisaka2) July 15, 2025
One day before that, a man visited his 81-year-old mother in Kitakami City in Iwate Prefecture, finding her sprawled in a bloody heap on the ground. She was pronounced dead at the scene, with cops noting that she appeared to have been mauled by an animal and identified strands of bear fur in the apartment.
The bears have also struck in Nagano Prefecture, smashing through a glass window in Iyama to terrorize the three inhabitants, with two separate elderly women attacked in northern Aomori Prefecture and Nara this week. Authorities are on edge and trying frantically to figure out how best to respond.
A perfect storm for bear attacks
Japanese government published guidelines for enabling hunters to take out bears that wander into populated areas. Basically the hunter can take a shot if all other measures are exhausted and there is nothing in the background pic.twitter.com/9gvKiAZLyT
— eric ゑリｯ久 (@shinobu_books) July 10, 2025
A new law was quickly passed authorizing “emergency shootings” if people spot a bear in a populated area, though with firearms vanishingly rare in Japan, few citizens can assist. Now a “bear emergency” has been declared, with cops warning residents to remain indoors and not to dispose of food waste outside their homes.
The skyrocketing bear attack epidemic is a perfect storm of political and environmental factors. Japan’s shrinking population means many rural villages are being abandoned to nature, allowing bears to become acclimatized to urban environments and navigating buildings.
This also ties into why the bears are hungry. Farms are being abandoned by their elderly owners in rural areas, giving bears fewer opportunities to prey on livestock or food waste. Even the bear’s natural food sources are under threat, with a poor scarcity of acorns and beech nuts leaving bears mad with hunger and driving them towards populated areas in search of human prey.
There are no easy solutions to Japan’s bear problem. But hey, if you’re an expert hunter, maybe drop the Japanese government an email offering them your services out in the wilderness. It sounds like they need all the help they can get right now.
