TOKYO, Sep. 13 – The number of bears captured in Japan was record 6,285 in fiscal 2019, according to a survey by the Ministry of the Environment of Japan. Bears had less food in the mountains in autumn last year due to a poor acorn crop across the country. They moved around to look for food, and that increased the number of conflicts between bears and people to 140. The number of bears captured is on the rise, with 1,941 captured already in the first four months of fiscal 2020. The ministry urges farmers to strictly follow bear safety cautions, such as not leaving agricultural products in the fields, to keep the animals away from farmland.
In fiscal 2019, the number of bears captured rose by 80% compared to the previous year. It was the largest ever since the records began in fiscal 2008. By months, the number of the catches was largest in August at 1,348, a 50% increase over the number reported last year. It was followed by 1,129 in September, which was 2.8 times that in the previous year.
The figure’s rise partly resulted from a lack of hard nuts, bears’ main food, in the woods. In the ministry’s survey of hard mast production in autumn 2019, 24 or 90% of 25 prefectures who provided answers to the ministry reported failures of buna Japanese beech acorn crops. Also, 14 or more than half of the 25 prefectures said they saw a poor crop of mizunara Mongolian oak acorns.
Bears need to increase their body fat before hibernation. So, they come closer to human habitats and sometimes even attack people. In 2019, more people were attacked by bears in autumn, with 22 attacked in September, 33 in October, and 22 in November.
So, people need to be extremely careful about the bear encounter continuously in fiscal 2020. The number of bears captured starts to rise in April as the animals wake up and start looking for food after the winter sleep. A ministry official said the rise in the number of catches and incidents involving people is expected to grow in fiscal 2020 if bears find it hard to get enough hard nuts this year again.
Leaving not-for-sale defective fruits and vegetables in the field and keeping garbage outside may result in unwanted encounters with bears.
The ministry strongly urges farmers to remove such potential food for bears completely while encouraging them to install electric fences to prevent conflicts between bears and people in human communities. “It’s important to combine several measures,” said the ministry’s wildlife official.