Bear killed after attacking man and son in Fukui

Drop your kid? Hold your kid and run for the house!

Thanks, Dad.

50kg? It was an anorexic bear, going on a rice diet.

I do not think this guy was thinking properly to drop his 1 year old after getting a bear attack, but both this father and son are very lucky that they did not end up as dinner for this very hungry bear.

They should have gone inside.

I wonder what the "attack" was. A one year old is going to look really yummy to a good sized bear, but tracking the animal down up to a kilometer away and killing it based on a few scratches to a kid who fell down seems very weak. Did the bear scratch the kid?

Seems like a weird scenario. Kids that age can't walk well, so, why didn't daddy step lively and get out of there?

Hope people are not taking a "better safe than sorry" or "shoot first ask questions later" attitude about killing these animals.

According to the telly news yesterday, the man was bitten on his thigh and ankle as he came out of the house. Easy to see how he might be surprised enough to let the kid slip out of his grasp.

The bear was probably equally surprised to see two humans suddenly appear out of a hole in a wall.

I am pretty sure I could hold a 50kg bear at bay while I back away with a child. Even a good kick could send a small bear like that running.

You cannot under estimate bears. One angry bear can easily take on 3-4 unarmed humans.

Oh sure! we're all going to be thinking clearly and logically when a bear suddenly attacks us in our own garden?

The problem with bears is that they are opportunistic feeders. If they see an old person or a young person, they will have a go. The problem is that not enough people are hunting them these days, so they are encroaching more and more on our territory. Yes, that's right greenies, OUR territory. We are not encroaching on theirs, they are encroaching on OURS.

A bear believed to be responsible for the attack

Who cares. Just kill it and put an end to these insurgents once and for all.

A member of a local chapter of sport hunters killed the animal

Give the man a beer, and yes, a trophy swamped on either side by bikini-clad ladies. Chalk up a win for the good guys. Mission accomplished.

The bear was probably equally surprised to see two humans suddenly appear out of a hole in a wall.

zzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ funny that you should choose the word equal. Here's the 911 gramps, bears are not people and are not on an equal footing. They don't even wear shoes. This dead bear should be charged with trespass as a lesson to all the other uncouth animals out there just thinking about it. Have some respect for people's property for god's sake.

Important postscript.

two humans suddenly appear out of a hole in a wall

It's called a door cleo. A door. Civilised beings open and close them all the time in order to pass through. Now bears, on the other hand, think the rules don't apply to them, but they're wrong, as seen in the case of this very dead one. Let's just hope the 1-year-old boy of this story is ok, and makes good use of the fur for the upcoming winter.

"According to the telly news yesterday, the man was bitten on his thigh and ankle as he came out of the house."

Well, there you go. "shrug" I don't see how this could have ended differently. I can kind of picture it. The bear is on someone's doorstep or something (but how does this jibe with "strolling in the garden" in the print story above) and some guy steps out. The bear can't get away fast enough and feels cornered and attacks.

Of course, once you get a bite and scratch in on a human, you are ursus non gratis, and your days are numbered.

Some parts of the story don't make sense, but the whole "it's a rogue bear so kill it" part of it is a cliche.

"shrug" I don't see how this could have ended differently

And that, is why you should leave it to seasoned vets such as myself.

Let's just review the key facts. Bear, not wearing shoes despite being outside, trespasses. Man, savoring the Sunday evening with his child after attending church earlier in the day, attacks bear oops is attacked by bear, and attempts to flee. Hunter/Fukui legend comes in to save the day, by blasting a hole through said aggressor animal. Animal's head is stuffed and mounted above fireplace as a reminder of who's boss. The End.

Icewind007 at 02:35 AM JST - 2nd November I am pretty sure I could hold a 50kg bear at bay while I back away with a child. Even a good kick could send a small bear like that running.

Icewind007, 50kgs sounds small until you consider that a fully grown male German Shepherd Dog (aka police dog) weighs only 30~40kgs. Try holding off one of those, even with both hands and wearing an inch of reinforced padding it's not easy to stay standing when it bites. I weigh more just over 80kgs and when I was training GSDs for schutzhund (the official German police-dog training programme) and it was my turn in the suit I was regularly knocked off my feet by 20~30kg puppies.

Also remember that a bear has 4 claws, a bite, so while they don't do the "flying bite" that GSDs love they also have a lot more options.

Personally I don't blame the father one little bit, the simple shock of being bitten it enough to shock the hell out of most people, and for anyone who thinks otherwise I'd recommend you go down to your local police station and volunteer to spend an hour in the dog training suit acting as an attack dummy for the dogs. It's safe, but you'll walk out of there with a very different perspective about how "easy" it is to fend off an animal attack.

It is possible the baby was knocked from his grip during the attack. It's more likely to be a case of typically bad English wording and not a cowardly act.

The problem is that not enough people are hunting them these days, so they are encroaching more and more on our territory. Yes, that's right greenies, OUR territory. We are not encroaching on theirs, they are encroaching on OURS

This statement is correct. Im a biologist in Japan and I make several trips into the mountains and forest for research and Im amazed at how the forest and mountains are completely saturated with wild animals...beyond the capacity of the forest to feed them. I could on a long detailed explaination..but I dont have space and time for it..and JT is not the proper forum for it.

It's more likely to be a case of typically bad English wording and not a cowardly act.

And you are likely right.

男性は、足首をかまれたり太ももをひっかかれたりして軽いけがをしたほか、転倒した際に長男も顔にすり傷を負いました (and from another source) 男性は右の太ももと足首をかまれて軽いけが。はずみで息子は地面に落ち、頭にすり傷を 負った。

Looks like the father fell with the boy. The only coward here is the bear, and let's all be thankful she is dead now and will no longer be trying to eat 1-year-old babies. Case closed.

icewind - you have no idea about bears - even a small one can easily bite clean through an arm or leg, and you can't outrun them..

It was a natural act by the bear.

why didn't daddy step lively and get out of there?

Running away from a bear or turning your back on a bear is the worst thing you can do, apart from playing dead.

I am pretty sure I could hold a 50kg bear at bay

Um, no you can't.

I imagine it was a pretty scary situation. But being animals ourselves, I wonder what the mans first thoughts were having his own child in his arms? Fear? survival? panic? murder?

Humans are weak mammals, only thing we got working for ourselves are technology, etc.

Put a single human sans tools vs a wild animal = Animal 1, human 0.

Not a fact most modern people like to admit to. An animal simply does what it does to survive but humans got self-imposed rules that make them a non-survivor in most situations.

This is where I live and we have killed FAR more than 1 bear. this is about the 3 or 4th in just a few weeks PLUS 2 cubs died of shock after they killed the mother. I am loosing track of all the stories. We had another bear attack a nurse at an old people day care. she lost her eye and nose. bear was killed there by the same group of hunters. We are having a sighting almost every other day now.

Sounds like it's time to cull some bears and lower their populations and make them respect us humans again.

it's time to cull some bears and lower their populations and make them respect us humans again. not enough people are hunting them these days

Sad that for some people the only solution to any problem is KILL.

Here's the 911 gramps

What's a 911 gramps? Some kind of Americanism?

A door. Civilised beings open and close them all the time in order to pass through. Now bears, on the other hand, think the rules don't apply to them

No, bears don't think the rules don't apply to them. They have no concept of rules, no reason they should. They're not trained dogs, neither are they 'civilised'. No reason to expect them to be. And to a bear that has spent its life in the woods doing there what bears do naturally, a door opening is no different from a hole suddenly appearing in a wall.

What's a 911 gramps? Some kind of Americanism?

No. 911 is not. There is however, a 411 --which is vernacular for 'the facts'/deets/information/low down/

someone was trying to be in the now, but they slipped, ya dig?

Moderator: Stay on topic please.

JumpingJesus at 09:06 AM JST - 2nd November Im a biologist in Japan and I make several trips into the mountains and forest for research and Im amazed at how the forest and mountains are completely saturated with wild animals...beyond the capacity of the forest to feed them.

Nice to hear from an expert. While I'm big into animal rights I'm also a realist and if the options are (a) let the bears kill people, (b) let the bears starve, or (c) cull the bears, then I'm in favour of culling.

I'd like to say though that it should be done by professionals, not by every redneck with a lust for killing and a gun license.

So excuse me if I don't roll out the red carpet right up to the kids' bedroom or afford these bears of death other civil courtesies. What I will extend them though is the end of my rifle. BOOM! A new jacket for winter.

Actually, it's people like you with no sense of he importance of nature conservation, nor, it seems, any appreciation at all for nature itself that should be the very last people allowed to hunt.

Try reading A Sand County Almanac, by Aldo Leopold. That is, if you don't already know everything there is to know.

ursus non gratis

Heh

No, bears don't think the rules don't apply to them. They have no concept of rules, no reason they should.

They most certainly do have a concept of rules, Cleo. They have a very good idea of terrority. This is one reason they're so hard to relocate. They go to great lengnths to return to their home range.

They defend their terroritories against other bears. Similarly, they know to avoid hiking trails during the daytime, which is why I've never seen a bear even after 17 years of hiking and mountain biking in Hokkaido. In the daytime, the hiking trails are human territory.

They know humans are dangerous, which is why they tend to avoid us.

The bears who don't observe these rules are killed. It's unfortunate that the bears have to play by our rules, which they have learned from hard experience. But better than playing by what would be the rules if they had their druthers: first come, first served.

Their rules, Nessie. Not ours. If they were so keen on observing our rules, we wouldn't be having them turning up in folks' gardens or wandering down the street in broad daylight.

I am really fascinated to go driving through the mountains and forest in Gunma ken but after hearing these news about bear attack i gave up my plan.

Well, that's just great. You hear that, Ed? Bears. Now you're putting the whole station in jeopardy.

YOu know Nessie, I have been mulling that all day, and I think it should be ursa non grata. Oh well.

I am a little skeptical of JumpingJesus, but it is basically correct. Of course not ALL forest areas are that way, but there must be some that are. Just a slight increase in population and a slight decrease in food will send all that wildlife out searching for Happy Meals wearing OshKosh overalls.

In our area, we had bear and monkey sightings today. Not unusual at all. Schoolchildren were alerted, but nothing came of it obviously.

As far as culling, as some posters know, I am all for identifying the "ursa non grata" and culling them first, as it were, which seems to be what is happening. Cleo is right. It is basically wrong to slaughter. I should say fundamentally wrong. However, there might be no other solution but to kill some of them. It would be great if we could send them to places with too many deer or feral dogs and cats, but that would just not work out in the long run.

These protected species have been protected for many decades. I think that a lot of Japanese biologists are now acknowledging that there will come a time when they will be overabundant. Not twenty years from now, but more like ten. Kamoshika, deer, tanuki, boars, foxes, monkeys, bears. We have them all. Lots of them. But there are still many many people who have never seen them at all, so I cannot definitely say that there are "too many." Nessie is a good example. I know many many people who have been mountaineering all over Japan who have not seen what I see in my back yard. Animals seem to like me, and word gets around, I guess. They also seem to be doing their darnedest not to piss me off, which is weird.

Gotta chime in that Frungy is right. 50 kg is too much to bear. I am positive that I could survive against one, but I don't know many people who could. Certainly not a child. The claw bite combo is devastating, but humans have kicks, chokes, punches and of course weapons. A pretty typical Japanese 10 year old might be 30 kg barely. My first "defense" would be to throw food at it. A good stinky soft cheese would probably give me a good getaway. But who hikes with limburger?

Drop the baby? After having his thigh and ankle gouged and the no doubt horrific pain that caused as well as loss of balance, well, I could see that dropping the baby not have been optional. In fact it might have been preferable to falling on the baby. Whatever he did, it seems to have been the correct choice as they are both still alive. Oh, yeah. But some of you would have held the baby in one hand and gouged out the bears eyes with the other! Or ran like the wind after having your leg damaged by a mauling bear! Sure!

If they were so keen on observing our rules, we wouldn't be having them turning up in folks' gardens or wandering down the street in broad daylight.

Considering the number of bears and the number of people, this doesn't happen much. Generally, bears play by our rules. When they don't they are killed, which reinforces those rules among the other bears. I can guarantee that bears in Hokkaido were not as shy before people arrived here and began hunting them.