Bear leads Japanese city to suspend classes in 94 schools

A screenshot from a surveillance camera shows a wild bear running near people in a residential area in Utsunomiya.
ORION STREET MALL PROMOTION ASSOCIATION/Handout via REUTERS
The city of Utsunomiya, Japan, suspended classes at all of its 94 primary and secondary schools this Monday (08), following the sighting of a bear in the region.
Authorities in the city of Utsunomiya 510,000 residents, located about 100 kilometers north of Tokyo, said the bear was first spotted in a residential area near a park on Saturday night.
A series of sightings followed, including at a shopping arcade on Sunday and later at a park, a middle school and an elementary school.
On Monday morning, residents spotted the bear near a wholesale market, a city hall official said. The animal remains at large after the last sighting on Monday morning, about half a kilometer from a secondary school. The bear described as being about a meter long.
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"We have sent patrol cars to areas where a bear has been seen to warn people and encourage them to stay at home or in their vehicles," the official said, adding that dozens of hunters, police and local authorities are searching for the animal.
Bear attacks on the rise in Japan
Bear attacks, including in urban areas, have been on the rise in Japan, prompting the government to create a task force this year to reduce the number of casualties.
Thirteen people were killed by bears in Japan last year, and there has been a rise in sightings as the animals emerge hungry from hibernation.
By March 2025, bear sightings across the country had surpassed 50,000 - more than double the previous record, set two years earlier, according to official data.
Last week, a bear attack in the city of Fukushima, in the northeast of the country, left at least four people injured. Security footage from the local steel plant shows a black bear chasing an employee at the factory entrance and knocking him to the ground.
In Utsunomiya, there were only two unconfirmed bear sightings in the previous year.
Changes in eating habits
Asian black bears are considered a vulnerable species, but their numbers are estimated to have tripled in Japan since 2012, driven by reduced hunting.
Experts claim that climate change has reduced the harvest of these animals' natural foods, such as acorns and beechnuts, while the depopulation of rural areas and more abandoned farmland has encouraged them to forage for food near human settlements.

Source: G1

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