In Japan, a sad end to a soap opera that has been shaking up the archipelago since Saturday. Police received an emergency call after a bear attacked and injured a man in a supermarket. After the evacuation of customers, the animal remained alone inside until its capture and death on Monday, December 2. A news item that is repeated in Japan where bear attacks are increasing.
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The hunt is over. The televisions of Japan showed images for two days from the Akita supermarket in the northeast of the country, where police received an emergency call on Saturday about a 47-year-old man injured by a bear. A head injury suffered by the victim who “ Will take at least a week to heal once stitches are removed, doctor says », Declared a police spokesperson to AFP.
While law enforcement and journalists were camped in front of the store, the bear was destroying the meat section. Fighters and a drone were called in as reinforcements
But finally, early this Monday, December 2, local time, the journalists’ cameras focused on a large blue box in which the animal was located. Baited by “ bananas, apples, bread coated with honey » the bear, approximately one meter high, fell into the trap set by the authorities. He would have been asleep before being shot, specifies the Kyodo News agency.
Increasing incidents
An accident far from being isolated in Japan where encounters with bears are increasing. Human victims of bears in recent months include an elderly woman attacked in her garden and a fisherman whose severed head was found on the edge of a lake.
In one year, 219 people were victims of attacks, including six deaths. The bear population has almost tripled since 2012. Experts say the declining human population in rural areas of Japan is pushing hungry bears closer to villages and towns.
Among other factors, climate change affects the food supply of omnivores and their hibernation periods. This summer has been the hottest on record in Japan. According to local media, Japanese authorities are also struggling to find enough hunters to cull the animals, due to a declining and aging population.