Japan makes it easier for hunters to shoot bears as attacks surge
The revised wildlife law allows emergency bear shootings in populated areas, enabling quicker responses amid rising animal sightings
The revision to the law on wildlife protection and management will enable a quicker and more effective response compared with current measures, which only allow dangerous animals to be shot when people are in immediate danger.
The government aims to enforce the law by fall when bears start to become active, with ordinance designating brown bears, Asian black bears and wild boars as dangerous animals subject to the emergency shooting.
Brown bears live in Hokkaido, northern Japan, while black bears live in 34 of the country’s 47 prefectures, according to the environment ministry.
Sightings of bears coming down to populated areas in search of food have been on the rise amid a decline in human activity in mountainous areas and an increase in abandoned farms as a result of the ageing and shrinking rural population.
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Under the revamped law, which cleared the House of Councillors, local governments will be able to ask hunters or officials to shoot a bear when it is feared it will enter a residential area or it is deemed an urgent response is necessary to prevent a human being harmed.