An emergency bear hunt took place on April 8th in the urban area of Koriyama City, Fukushima Prefecture. A hunter who was present described the situation at the time.
■First emergency bear hunt in Koriyama “It came down diagonally from there, and when I saw its head, I shot it.” Shintaro Ono of the hunting association described the tense situation. Bears have been appearing in the urban area of Koriyama City since April 6th, and on the 8th, they appeared near JR Koriyama Tomita Station in the morning, then continued to move northward, stopping near the Koriyama Junction, about 5 kilometers away. After a standoff of about 6 hours, nearby residents were urged to take shelter indoors, and the surrounding expressways were temporarily closed before the emergency bear hunt took place. Ono said, “You have to hit a vital spot. With smaller individuals, there is a possibility of hitting them a second or third time. When a large individual comes at you, it is sometimes difficult to fire a second or third shot.”
■Unusual: Large Bear Makes Appearance in Urban Area According to Koriyama City, the bear that was culled was a male measuring 180 centimeters in length and weighing 120 kilograms. Even Mr. Ono, a hunter with over 30 years of experience, said it was the largest he had ever seen. “When I actually shot it down and confirmed its size, my honest reaction was, ‘Is it really this big?’ I think it’s unusual for something this large to come into an urban area,” he said. The emergency hunting on the 7th was postponed because “the bushes were too thick and the bear could not be clearly seen.” Koriyama City says it will exchange opinions and conduct an investigation with relevant organizations regarding this series of actions.
■A Bear Dependent on Settlements? Bears have been appearing in urban areas like Koriyama City. Kazuhiko Yoneda of the Japan Black Bear Research Institute pointed out, “It’s not the time of year for them to come out from deep in the mountains. I think this is a bear that has grown up to be dependent on settlements,” and that the bear that was culled this time is highly likely to be an “urban bear” that overwintered and grew up in urban areas.
■The time to be extra careful is now The number of bear sightings in Fukushima Prefecture since the start of 2026 has significantly exceeded that of 2025, but it is the time to be extra careful that is now. Bears awaken from hibernation around the end of May. Not only will the conditions be such that we are more likely to encounter bears when hiking or gathering wild vegetables, but “urban bears” also enter their mating season after May and become aggressive, so extra caution is needed. Mr. Yoneda says, “Urban bears are not affected by good or bad harvests. They will continue to appear all year round from now on, so I feel that urban areas of Fukushima Prefecture are becoming quite urbanized.” Mr. Yoneda urges people to be vigilant of their surroundings when going out and to carry something that makes noise, such as a bell.
