Fear of ‘bears’ has recently been spreading in Japan. Wild bears are not only destroying crops, but there are also cases of them attacking people.
This is correspondent Park Sang-jin from Tokyo.
<Reporter>
A black bear approaches the vineyard.
When the alarm sounded, it seemed to run away, but when no one came, it headed back towards the fence.
In one week, bears damaged about 360 kg of grapes, and the damage amounted to over 3 million won.
[Tsukitate/Farm Official: When I arrived in the morning, the fence was in this condition, and the bear had only eaten the eggs from the grape bunches.] The bears are eating
everything they can find, including fruits, dried fish, and farm fish.
Cases of wild bears attacking people have been increasing recently.
Last week, in Akita Prefecture, northeastern Japan, two women who were taking a walk at dawn were attacked by a bear and injured their heads.
As of July this year alone, 55 people were injured and one person was killed by bear attacks across Japan.
In Japan, bear hunting was banned in 1990 due to concerns about extinction, and the number of bears has more than doubled in 30 years, with the number of cases of bears wandering into residential areas and attacking them increasing.
Police are even conducting training with local residents to prepare for bear infestations.
[Seki/Akita Prefecture Police: We are responding with a great sense of토토사이트 crisis to the presence of bears near schools and stations.]
The reason wild bears leave the forest and appear in residential areas is because there is a lack of food.
Japanese local governments are considering ways to reduce damage, such as increasing the number of fruit trees that serve as food for bears and even considering re-permitting bear hunting.