Japan on Friday enacted a revised law to allow municipalities to authorize "emergency shootings" by hunters when dangerous animals enter populated areas amid a rising number of bear attacks.
The revision to the law on wildlife protection and management will enable a quicker and more effective response compared with current measures, which only allow dangerous animals to be shot when people are in immediate danger.
The government aims to enforce the law by fall when bears start to become active, with ordinance designating brown bears, Asian black bears and wild boars as dangerous animals subject to the emergency shooting.
Brown bears live in Hokkaido, northern Japan, while black bears live in 34 of the country's 47 prefectures, according to the Environment Ministry.
Sightings of bears coming down to populated areas in search of food have been on the rise amid a decline in human activity in mountainous areas and an increase in abandoned farms as a result of the aging and shrinking rural population.
Under the revamped law, which cleared the House of Councillors, local governments will be able to ask hunters or officials to shoot a bear when it is feared it will enter a residential area or it is deemed an urgent response is necessary to prevent a human being harmed.
The law also states certain conditions must be met before an emergency shooting is authorized -- for example, it is deemed the animal cannot be captured quickly without the use of a firearm and there is no risk of people being caught in the line of fire.
Municipal chiefs will be able to restrict traffic and issue evacuation orders to secure the safety of residents when an emergency shooting is carried out. Local governments will provide compensation if a building is damaged by bullets.
A record high 219 casualties, including six deaths, from bear attacks were reported in the country in fiscal 2023 through March 2024, according to the ministry.
© KYODO
18 Comments
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factchecker
A nation of animal lovers. Ever heard of tranquillisers?
diagonalslip
didn't they do this last year? or was that temporary? or none of the above?
Tokyo Guy
Easier than admitting that humans have ruined the environment of many species, bears included, by continually encroaching on, and building over, the natural habitats.
I'm on team bear. Humans suck.
Pukey2
Seems not.
Mr Kipling
Bears are territorial. They are not only looking for food, they are being forced out by other bears. This will happen more as the bear numbers increase.
Relocation is not an option as they cannot be relocated to another bears territory.
NZ
a bit late but better now than never.
kurisupisu
Before humans ever set foot on these islands ,there were bears here.
The Japanese are good at wiping out animals but not so good at conservation.
travelbangaijin
Sure, just remember it takes time for the tranquilizer to kick in and the bear can easily finish off someone before it takes effect. Bears have a lot of fatty layers.
WA4TKG
Love Animals, hug a Grizzly
kurisupisu
Many species of animals not able to survive in Japan over time.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Extinct_animals_of_Japan
Henry Boogle
Tranquilised and relocated bears tend to return, as sparsely populated towns and abandoned farmland provide readily accessible food and shelter. The problem isn't individual bears, the problem is the overall bear population, and the decline in rural human populations.
It's easy to view this measure negatively when you don't live in a dangerous area, when you or someone you know has never experienced a bear encounter. Also, next time you buy meat at the supermarket, keep in mind that that animal probably suffered much more and for much longer than a bear that gets shot.
Killing animals is unpleasant but nature is cruel, and humans are not above nature. Hopefully the culled bears can be eaten, so the deaths are not completely in vain (and because bear meat is delicious).
Seawolf
It is about time. I live in the mountains, surrounded by forests. I have seen very fresh scratch marks near housings in two areas this spring, signs that some young bears trying to establish their own territories.
For anyone who hasn't been to the outskirts of farming villages, abandoned farms does not only mean cheap houses to buy, but the rice paddies will overgrow with thick brushes and trees in very short time, giving boars and bears perfect camouflage to get very close to houses and fields still in use as well.
On top of that, climate change has lead to unstable weather patterns, less rain when it's needed, and higher temperatures, making it more difficult for animals to find food like acorns, chestnuts, walnuts etc in the forests.
Seawolf
Ever heard of how easy/not it is to successfully use them on bears? And how much effort, manpower, and costs it would take to relocate bears? Or where to relocate them to?
Desert Tortoise
How then do wildlife agencies in the US manage to accomplish relocation of bears fairly routinely?
Desert Tortoise
California has similar encounters with bears coming down out of the mountains into residential areas looking for food and taking a dip in back yard swimming pools. The bears are darted to sedate them, caged and re-located someplace far away well back in the mountains.
You might want to become familiar with the work of Steve Searles, aka "The Bear Whisperer", in Mammoth California where he used hazing techniques to teach bears not to come into areas where humans live and play. He had a wide variety of non-lethal means to harass bears and get them to leave.
DanteKH
In Europe killing animals is a big no no. The bear problem was easily solved by capturing them with tranquilizers, then relocate them to zoos or special bear reservations.
Never understood why Japan, a civilized country supposedly, cannot deal in a more civilised and elegant manner whith this problem, so easily solved. It only takes will and determination.
OssanAmerica
This basically means if any bear is sighted.
Japan is utterly backwards when it comes to conservation. The government still continues the cheap route of using civilian hunters, many of are old enough that wouldn't trust them to walk behind me with a loaded gun. Because civilian hunters are used the first solution seems to be eradicating the animal by shooting it.
Japan actually has considerable conservation research in hand and ongoing, which, if coupled with an actual government agency with trained and educated conservation officers (rangers) could more effectively manage the bear issue. The use of tranquilizers, traps, and deadly force should all be under their responsibility. Civilian hunters can be employed as volunteers, rather than the current system where they have turned it into a business in dealing with municipalities.
Japan also needs to up it's conservation laws to stop the importation of every odd creature under the sun as "pets" which invariably end up free and threatening the ecosystem. Doesn't Japan have enough invasive species yet?
YeahRight
Humans first.