In Japan, a bear ravages a supermarket before being shot – Libération

The story tells of the difficult cohabitation of the wild world and humans and, as is often the case, it ends badly for the former. After hiding out for two days in a Japanese supermarket, attracted by the meat, and injuring an employee, a bear was finally captured and will be killed this Monday, December 2, local authorities said.

On Saturday, police received an emergency call about a 47-year-old man who had been cut by a plantigrade in a supermarket in Akita, in the northeast of the archipelago. His head injury 'will take at least a week to heal once stitches are removed, doctor says'said a police spokesperson.

The man was surprised by the bear while working near the delicatessen section of the supermarket, before opening. Another employee helped him get to safety in a storage area before calling police. The store was closed and there were no customers inside at the time of the incident. The animal, left alone inside, devastated the meat section, according to the daily Asahi Shinbun.

Six deaths in one year

Early this Monday, the bear finally fell into a trap containing “rice bran, bananas, apples and bread, all coated in honey”explained an Akita official. The animal was to be put down during the day on Monday, police said.

The archipelago is facing a growing number of bear attacks, with six human deaths in the last 12 months. A record since the first government data, which dates from 2006. Among the human victims recorded in recent months are an elderly woman attacked in her garden and a fisherman whose severed head was found at the edge of a lake. More than 200 other people have been involved in incidents with these animals. Conversely, in one year, 9,097 of these animals were killed, more than double the previous year, according to the Ministry of the Environment.

Experts say the dwindling human population in rural areas of Japan is pushing hungry bears closer to villages and towns. Among other factors, climate change affects the food supply of plantigrades and their hibernation periods. This summer has been the hottest on record in Japan.

According to local media, Japanese authorities are struggling to find enough hunters to cull the animals, due to a declining and aging population. In total, the archipelago has two types of bears: the Asian black bear and the brown bear living on the northern island of Hokkaido, which can weigh half a ton. These populations are increasing: according to one estimate, the number of black bears stands at 44,000, compared to 15,000 in 2012.