Across Japan, bears waking from hibernation more than a month earlier than usual are appearing one after another, causing human casualties.
According to Fuji News Network (FNN) on the 27th, since the start of this month, bear sightings have been reported across Japan, including Ishikawa, Iwate, Hokkaido, and the Kanto region. Bears typically begin activity after mid-March, but analysts say the timing has moved up as temperatures have risen.
On the 13th in Hanamaki, Iwate Prefecture, a man in his 70s belonging to a hunter group who was driving away a bear with animal-scare firecrackers was attacked by a bear and injured.
Then around 8 a.m. on the 24th, a bear was spotted by people photographing wild birds near Lake Shunkunitai in Nemuro, Hokkaido. A bear also appeared at the same location the previous afternoon. Local residents said it is rare to see bears in February.
Bears have also been captured on camera this month in riverbed areas adjacent to urban centers, including Ashikaga, Tochigi Prefecture, expanding the areas where they are appearing.
From April last year through last month, 2,013 brown bears were captured in Hokkaido. That exceeds the 1,804 recorded in 2023, the highest on record on a fiscal year basis.
Experts are calling this an unusual situation. With rising temperatures and early thawing, bears' hibernation periods have shortened, prompting activity earlier than expected. Yamauchi Kiyoshi, an associate professor in the Faculty of Agriculture at Iwate University, said, "Because nuts and other tree fruits have not yet grown in the mountains, there is a very high possibility that bears that woke from hibernation early came down to villages in search of food."