Bear that ransacked Japanese supermarket killed after two-day hunt

Animal injured store employee and ransacked meat section before being captured and killed

A rogue bear that terrorised a supermarket in northeastern Japan was captured and killed after a two-day hunt that ended on 2 December.

The animal attacked an employee and scavenged through the store’s meat section before eluding authorities for about 48 hours.

The bear entered the store in Akita early on 30 November as 20 employees were preparing for the day. It attacked a 47-year-old male staffer who suffered facial and other injuries.

The injuries were later confirmed to be non-life-threatening.

The laceration on the man’s head “will take at least a week to heal once his stitches get removed according to a doctor,” a police spokesperson told AFP.

Since it was early and there were no customers, the bear roamed the store freely. It ransacked the meat stock before vanishing.

An operation to track and capture the animal started immediately, with police enlisting licenced hunters. But the search initially proved fruitless, despite the use of a camera-equipped drone, Kyodo News reported.

The breakthrough came on 2 December, at about 8.10am local time, when the bear triggered a sensor in one of the two traps set up for it. The traps, baited with honey, apples and bread, had been strategically positioned. One was placed in a rear storage area where the animal was ultimately captured.

The bear, measuring roughly a metre in length, was subsequently killed, bringing an end to the tense standoff. The supermarket, located near the Tsuchizaki railway station, remained closed throughout the hunt, preventing what could have been a far graver outcome.

Bear encounters in Japan have been on the rise, not least in the northern part of the country, driven by habitat loss and declining food supplies in the wild, especially in the mountain ranges, which otherwise provided an ideal habitat.

Climate change is also affecting the traditional food source of bears by interfering with flowering and pollination seasons, forcing them to venture into urban areas, environmentalists have said.

Akita prefecture, bordered by the Sea of Japan and known for its lush landscapes, has seen a noticeable increase in bear sightings, leading to renewed calls for more effective wildlife management strategies.

At least 9,000 bears have been killed in the last fiscal year, reported the Manila Times, citing the country’s environment ministry. The number is twice that of 2022, it added.

Meanwhile, at least three people have been killed in bear attacks this year.