This spring has been a deadly one on the island of Hokkaido. Two men and a woman have died as a result of encounters with Japanese Brown Bears.

The first incident occurred on April 18th. Kimiko Kitamura along with her 19 year old son and an acquaintance were picking wild vegetables near Kushiro, when Mrs. Kitamura was attacked. Reports say that after hearing growls and his mother’s screams, the son found a bear standing near his mother who was lying on the ground. Mrs. Kitamura was taken to a hospital but unfortunately did not survive the attack. The bear was hunted down by police and killed. There were apparently many bears in the area where the threesome was foraging.

Soon after, in the mountains near Sapporo, Mr. Kenzo Kudo (53), who was also gathering wild vegetables, went missing. On May 6th, a search party found his partially buried remains (bears will often bury human kills they consider a food source to protect their future meal from other predators). The bear believed to have killed the man was shot and killed by police. The man was alone in the forest at the time of his encounter.

The 3rd victim, 81 year old Yunosuke Sekiguchi was killed by the bear that he was hunting near Monbetsu. He was one of 12 hunters who set out on May 10th to try and kill the bear that had been sighted in the area. Mr. Sekiguchi died as a result of severe head injuries caused by the bear attack. The bear was believed to be a 5 or 6 year old male who was 2.2m tall and weighed 300kg.

This last case highlights a disturbing fact. It is illegal to hunt bears in the spring in Japan, but hunters often kill the bears that come close to towns or cities. They continue to do so because they do not face any prosecution for their acts. Bears killed illegally can also be sold for profit, because law enforcement officials do not take the kill away from the hunters.

Many people are unaware of the existence of bears in Japan. There are very few bears left and the number of wild areas for them to live are also rapidly decreasing. Researchers are unable to provide us with the number of bears that remain in Japan. Unfortunately, incidents like these will do nothing to help preserve their numbers.