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© KYODOBear attack on angler suspected after human head found at lake in Hokkaido
ASAHIKAWA, Hokkaido©2025 GPlusMedia Inc.
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Desert Tortoise
Yikes!
JeffLee
Ugh. In Canada, you need to carry at least bear spray, preferably a loaded rifle, if you're going to a remote area where grizzlies live. Just common sense. I'm going to assume this guy was defenseless.
Lindsay
Bears are one of the few dangerous animals that will actually eat you. Most only see you as a threat to their territory. Bears see you as food. Going fishing alone in areas with bears is probably not one of the best decisions a person could make. Sad outcome for the fisherman and his family.
OssanAmerica
Bears that have killed and eaten humans are shot, because they have acquired a taste. This is true in every country. Bears that have merely wandered into human habitat can in many cases be tranqulized and transported out.
The angler was fly fishing alone in waders in the water, likely with his back to the shore. In which case wearing Bear Bells or carrying Bear Spray would not have been of much help. He maynot have even seen the bear coming until it was too late.
Mark
Stay away from Bear territory and everything will just be fine, Happy Bear & Happy us.
Uchujin
It is the bear territory!
Sven Asai
Still probability is there, that he might have been decapitated by someone or a group and then brought there into wild silent nature to let it look like a bear attack or fishing accident. Not in every bear costume is a bear, so to say.
virusrex
Brought to the place where the victim was last seen? and by huge coincidence a bear seen with waders in its mouth? this is not a realistic possibility, nature can be dangerous enough without having to imagine very unlikely scenarios to explain a death.
Zizi
No need to kill the bear
Barbaric as always.
deanzaZZR
Killed a bear. Was it the bear that killed the fisherman?
EFD
Maybe don't go fishing in bear territory?
CarlosTakanakana
@Zizi
Maybe the bear was protecting the fish.
Toshihiro
RIP to my namesake and his family. I hope he finds peace and eternal rest. I can imagine his final moments weren't exactly worth mentioning. This is why I would want to have a shotgun when I go camping, yogi bear in real life isn't just after our picnic baskets.
Nadrew
No shortage of bears.
daito_hak
I know well this area. This is very remote and nobody should go there alone unprepared like that in an area populated with brown bears. Now brown bears usually don't approach or attack humans unless for example a mother is afraid for the safety of her cubs and wants to protect them. They usually keep distance as long as a person let them know of their presence on their territory.
However there is a particular period when this can be extremely dangerous to venture in bear's territories. Typically, the end of the bear's winter slumber is around the beginning of April, but females who gave birth (from late January to early February) will leave the den about a month later. Around the beginning of May, all bears will have become active, including the single bears and mothers with cubs. During this period they need to feed a lot since when bears emerge from their dens they are understandably hungry. So this is really not a good idea to be there then, not good at all. He was actually also in an area where bears also feed in fish.
This guy was reckless and stupid.
u_s__reamer
The poor guy was unthinking, clearly ignorant of reality: the laws of nature also apply to humankind.
opheliajadefeldt
My dog, I did not know Japan even had bears in it countryside.
japancat
Humans eat all the other forms of life, ...... special....but no more special than any other form of life, a least not to bears. Eat and be eaten.
David Brent
Going to such an area without bear spray or a shotgun is stupid.
Guns can be a pain to acquire here, but bear spray can easily be bought here.
falseflagsteve
Sounds like the bear attacked and ate him.
OssanAmerica
Google is your friend.
Mr Kipling
What they mean is they have not yet officially identified the remains of Mr. Nishikawa.
They know, we know and his family know it's him.
Fighto!
Rest in Peace to the poor devoured fisherman.
Once bears get a taste for human, as others have rightly stated, there is no turning back. It will be relentless in its pursuit of any and all humans it can find to satisfy it's need for human meat. Sadly this bear must be found and destroyed ASAP - otherwise another human kill is almost a certainty.
Michael Machida
Circumstantial evidence of a bear having waders dangling from its mouth. I have seen thousands of bears with waders dangling from their mouths.
nandakandamanda
There is a large bear in Hokkaido OSO18 that attacks and kills cattle, at least 65 so far. They've been after it for months but have not yet succeeded in stopping it.
牛を襲う 謎のヒグマ「OSO18」とは なぜ被害が? 追跡取材で迫る - クローズアップ現代 - NHK
In 1915 in the early frontier days, there was a bear that would smash into fragile houses and attack, drag away and/or eat whole families. This Sankebetsu Higuma incident is perhaps the most well known horror story, where one winter a certain bear killed 7 and wounded three. Subject of several documentaries and films.
三毛別羆事件 - Wikipedia
Azzprin
.
Why
Simple answer
Once it tasted human flesh it would see the next human as food.
Hopefully it was the one that killed the man.
.
Fishing in bear country, you should have at lest one person with you.
.
As others have said, having a bear repellant spray with you at lest is a must in bear country.
After catching a fish, you would have it smell on you. Maybe that is what attracted the bear.
Peter Neil
No evidence of this at all. A myth.
Black bears rarely attack people, unless they're protecting young or territory. Only 14% of attacks are fatal and while they're capable of eating people, they would only do so if starving.
Grizzly and Polar bears are more likely to attack and eat anything. No Grizzlies or Polar bears in Japan.
nandakandamanda
Bears are all different, and unpredictable in the wild. So are humans.
flacteMnaD
Actually, the Brown Bear of Hokkaido has the temperament and attitude of a grizzly bear. They are quite aggressive, especially in the spring and late fall. An unfortunate situation.
Peter Neil
No. Bears are omnivores.
Has it been determined to be a bear attack?
Brown bears in Hokkaido are big. They are more likely to run away from humans unless cubs or territory are threatened, or they're starving. They would just be coming out of hibernation recently.
If someone was decapitated it doesn't mean they were eaten. Bears are ferocious fighters with enormous strength.
I'm bringing a shotgun(perfectly legal in Japan) if I'm gong into bear country.
snakebyte
Peter NeilToday 03:24 am JST
"I'm bringing a shotgun(perfectly legal in Japan) if I'm gong into bear country".
Preferably loaded with solid slug cartridges. Standard lead shot would only make a Bear angry.
nandakandamanda
They have now found parts of his torso too.
Having opened the stomach of the bear they shot, they found it contains about 9kg of flesh and bone fragments. They have not determined yet whether they are human remains.
J article with general photos.
釣りの男性行方不明の朱鞠内湖、新たに遺体の一部を発見…先に頭部が見つかり、付近で駆除のクマの胃に肉片や骨片(HBCニュース北海道) - Yahoo!ニュース