In Utsunomiya City, where a 1.5-meter-long bear was captured, a state of heightened alert remains in place. We conducted a thorough investigation to determine whether the bear that appeared in the city was just one individual, or if there were two or more. [TV Asahi NEWS]
A woman who witnessed the sighting exclaimed, “Bear! Bear! Bear! Bear!” Two bears were seen walking on the road. Noticing the car, they ran off into a field beside the road. A woman in her 60s encountered the bears while driving home in Nishiharubetsu, Betsukai Town, in eastern Hokkaido. The bears stood defiantly in the field and appeared to be looking at the photographer. The woman who witnessed the sighting said, “I’ve lived here for 41 years, but this is the first time I’ve encountered a bear. I was surprised, or rather, I felt scared afterward.”
Reporter Masafumi Ishizaki said, “It was a little after 10 a.m. City officials were heading into the mountains to investigate the bears.” Bear sightings have also been reported in residential areas of Sapporo. Yesterday (the 9th), shortly before 7 p.m., a male junior high school student spotted three bears on a street in Maruyama Nishimachi 2-chome, Chuo Ward, Sapporo. The bears all ran off into the mountains when a passing car honked its horn. There was also a sighting of one bear in the vicinity on the 7th. The site is about 1 kilometer southwest of Maruyama Zoo. The area is a residential neighborhood close to elementary and junior high schools, and last June, a dashcam captured footage of a bear running rapidly down a road at night before disappearing into the bushes. Following yesterday’s sighting, the city conducted an on-site investigation starting around 10 a.m., but found no trace of a bear.
Takuya Asakura of the Sapporo City Environmental Coexistence Division said, “We cannot say for certain what was sighted this time, or whether it was a bear, but it is a habitat, and based on past information, we think it is best to report this as a bear sighting and warn residents to be careful.” The city has installed surveillance cameras in the bushes where the sighting was reported and will continue to be vigilant, as well as urging people not to go out alone at night, which is the bear’s active time. ▼HTB Hokkaido News Official Website
A bear appeared in a residential area of Utsunomiya City, Tochigi Prefecture. Three days after the initial sighting, on the 9th, it was finally captured. Tracking the bear’s movements revealed the terrifying reality of its behavior, including swimming in rivers, climbing walls, and entering houses.
In Utsunomiya City, Tochigi Prefecture, where a bear was captured on the grounds of a private residence on the 9th, there have been no further sightings, but vigilance remains in place due to the possibility of other bears being present. In addition, bears have been sighted in Gifu and Hokkaido, and a woman was injured in a bear attack in Iwate.
On the 9th, a bear appeared in a residential area of Utsunomiya City, Tochigi Prefecture. After swimming in a river, it skillfully climbed a nearly vertical concrete wall. After climbing over a fence, it walked further in and settled in the yard of a nearby house. (Report by the reporting team) “More than 10 police officers, armed with shields and long-handled polearms, have rushed to the house.” While members of the hunting association continued to keep watch on top of the water tank of the neighboring house, at around 2:30 p.m., staff from Utsunomiya Zoo began preparations with tranquilizer guns. At around 3:30 p.m., the tranquilizer gun hit its target. The bear was seen slowly lying down.
The captured bear was an adult male weighing approximately 100 kg. While some nearby residents expressed relief that the bear had been safely captured, others said, “The bear that was captured earlier was a fairly large one, but the first bear that was found was a bit smaller, so I’m worried that there might be other bears out there.” The bear was captured on the 9th, approximately 2km in a straight line from JR Utsunomiya Station. Meanwhile, in the city, there were numerous sightings of bears in various locations between June 6th and 9th, although it is unclear if they were the same individual bear that was captured. On the 7th, a bear appeared in a shopping street right next to Tobu Utsunomiya Station. The following day, footage of a bear running through company premises was captured.
It is unclear whether these images are of the same bear that was captured on the 9th, but according to the police, there have been no further bear sightings since the capture. However, Utsunomiya City says it cannot rule out the possibility of other bears appearing, and has kept all 94 municipal elementary and junior high schools closed since the 8th. ▼Caution continues around the capture site Reporter reports on the latest information Bears that have appeared in urban areas and affected daily life. A reporter reports on the latest information from the Higashi-Yanase area of Utsunomiya City where the bear was captured.
(Nene Nomi, Reporter, afternoon of the 10th) “Utsunomiya City has a population of about 510,000. In Kansai terms, it is a city of roughly the same size as Himeji City in Hyogo Prefecture. Higashi-Yanase is an area where about 1,300 people live, located 2km in a straight line from JR Utsunomiya Station, which is also a Shinkansen stop, and 3km from the Tochigi Prefectural Government Office. Walking around on the 10th, I got the impression that it is a quiet residential area with many detached houses and apartments. Residents in the area have said that they are taking measures such as “refraining from going out at night” and “driving to places they would normally walk to.” Also, at a convenience store not far from the capture site, measures such as switching the automatic doors to manual operation were seen to prevent bears from entering.” According to the store staff, they cannot rule out the possibility of another bear appearing in the future, so there is no prospect of switching back to automatic doors. ▼MBS NEWS DIG
On the 9th, a bear appeared in a residential area of Utsunomiya City, Tochigi Prefecture. The bear, a male adult weighing approximately 100 kg, was captured about 2 km in a straight line from JR Utsunomiya Station. It is unclear whether the captured bear is the same individual, but there have been numerous bear sightings in various locations in the city from the 6th to the 9th of this month, including in the shopping district near Tobu Utsunomiya Station. According to the police, there have been no further sightings since the capture, but Utsunomiya City has kept all 94 municipal elementary and junior high schools closed since the 8th, as they cannot rule out the possibility of another bear appearing. Why did a bear appear in an urban area? What are the conditions for a bear to appear in an urban area? We asked experts, including Professor Toru Oi, a specially appointed professor at Ishikawa Prefectural University, who is knowledgeable about bear ecology. ▼MBS NEWS DIG
