Posted on 10/20/2025 12:31:49 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
Billy Halloran's peaceful trail run in Japan turned into a fight for survival
When Billy Halloran set out on a training run in the forest surrounding Myoko, a mountain town in central Japan, one morning in early October, he was expecting little more than a quiet workout among the trees. That changed when he noticed movement in the undergrowth—two Asiatic black bears staring back at him from less than 30 metres away. Bear encounters in Japan have surged this year, with more than a hundred people injured and at least seven killed, the highest toll since tracking began in 2006, as reported by CNN.
Asiatic bear warning sign in Japan.
The 32-year-old, originally from Auckland, N.Z., tried to retreat slowly, but one bear advanced. It was roughly his size, he later recalled. Halloran shouted, hoping to scare it off, but the animal lunged. It bit into his arm, knocked him to the ground and tore into his leg before finally backing away.
Survival and recovery
Badly wounded, Halloran managed to stand and call his wife. Fearing the bear might return, he ran nearly a kilometre to meet her before being taken to the hospital. Surgeons have since repaired his arm with metal plates and used a hip graft to replace bone lost in the attack. He’s now beginning a long recovery and months of rehabilitation. “I still want to get back to running,” he said from his hospital bed, “but I know it’ll take time.”
A broader crisis
Japan has been grappling with a spike in bear encounters as the animals wander farther from their mountain habitats in search of food. Experts blame climate change and reduced...
(Excerpt) Read more at runningmagazine.ca ...
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Bear doing bear stuff ping.
I’m on the bears’ side. They were there first.
His partner, who couldn’t run as fast, didn’t fare as well.
Bears will make you run faster................
That will make anyone pick up the pace.
More people are killed by bears in Japan than are killed by bears in the United States.
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/4197724/posts
I was wondering about this, apparently Asiatic black bears are not like the almost harmless black bears we have in the states. I assume the Japanese are disarmed, but is bear spray a thing in Japan?
I’m on the bears’ side. They were there first.
In the USA below Canada, people were here before grizzly bears.
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4068582/posts
I assume the Japanese are disarmed, but is bear spray a thing in Japan?
It is legal to purchase. You need a plausible reason to carry it. Hiking in bear country almost certainly qualifies.
It appears difficult to get at present.
https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15407568
Hey jack. Joe Biden would have killed that bear with his powerful bear hands.
Obviously there are going to be problems, bears cant read kanji.
Obviously, no one told the bear WWII ended, and this bear was merely protecting the homeland and the glory of the emperor....
The problem could be that the bears cannot read Japanese and do not know they shouldn’t be attacking humans.
Lessee, what can be done about this?.....
What about the Japanese saying, a haiku a day keeps the bears at bay?
Fuzzy Wuzzy Bear.
Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair.
Not fuzzy was he.
The rural areas of Japan are becoming depopulated, and in the absence of human activity bears become more apex predators.
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