Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) began to warn farmers against bears since wild bears have appeared one after another across the country and the casualties have been increasing in recent months.
MAFF’s website provides farmers with information on how to discourage bears from coming into rural communities as well as how to survive a bear attack during farm works on the field.
Prefectural governments received this month MAFF’s notification that a warning against bears should be given to farmers and other rural residents. The notification is really unseasonable, while bears usually appear at rural communities in autumn before they enter hibernation.
According to MAFF’s list of advices not to encounter a bear during farm works, it is a useful safety measure for farmers to let bears know of their presence by sending a sound with a radio and the like.
Farmers are also advised to pay careful attention to around themselves particularly in the early morning and late afternoon when bears are most active.
It is further suggested that farmers should remove bushes in a forest neighboring farmlands so as to avoid dangerous bears, because bears are apt to run through those farmlands from the forest.