Bear Injures Four in Residential Area of Japan as Annual Number of Attacks Rises

Euronews ^ | 6/2 | Gavin Blackburn

[nickcarraway]

Japan's Environment Ministry said 13 people were killed in more than 230 bear attacks in 2025, exceeding the number of fatalities and attacks in any preceding year. A bear injured four people in a residential area of Japan on Tuesday in the latest case of an attack by the animals in an area of the country where bears have increasingly encroached on the human population in recent years.

Police and fire department officials rushed to the scene in the Sasakino district of Fukushima in northeastern Japan after receiving an emergency call from the Fukushima Steel Works reporting bear attacks on two employees.

Security camera footage shows a black bear appearing and chasing an employee near the entrance. As the man in his 20s tries to flee, the bear throws him to the ground. On the video the bear then moves into the factory compound and injures a second male employee in his 60s. The bear later injured a third person, a male employee in his 60s at separate company. A woman in her 80s who lives in the neighbourhood also was attacked and injured, the Fukushima City Fire Department said.

[nickcarraway]

Nuclear bears?

[Georgia Girl 2]

Shoot it Lisbeth, shoot it!

[Equine1952]

Everyone talks about grizzlies, black bears are no joke either. They’re not to be trifled with.

[BradyLS]

“A bear?!? How did _he_ get here??? But there is no time for wondering! They must fight the bear!”

[Jamestown1630]

Don’t we have a Freeper who studies bear attacks, particularly in Japan?

[Texas Eagle]

Appetizers.

[ConservativeMind]

I have eaten bear meat and it was quite good.

[kawhill]

Get Carl Spackler on it he’s good with eradicating critters.

[HYPOCRACY]

That bear was very impolite.

[Red Badger]

Well, they are black................

[Texas Eagle]

Heh heh. Was it us, Yogi?

[Uncle Miltie]

Ping!

[PGR88]

[BradyLS]

“C’mon, Boo-Boo. We’re smarter than the average bears!”

[ek_hornbeck]

I would have thought that the main island of Japan (unlike Hokkaido, which has patches of near-wilderness) is so densely populated that there wouldn’t be bears or other large wild animals.

[Red Badger]

😁😎..............................

[HartleyMBaldwin]

I guess the Japanese Game & Fish people need to issue more bear tags. Maybe even lengthen the season a few days.

[Texas Eagle]

😆

[Tijeras_Slim]

A huge percentage of the population is urban. Rural Japan has been steadily depopulation for some time now. Couple that with an aging population and many rural villages and towns are essentially abandoned.

[fidelis]

Nuclear bears?

I suppose it’s bearly possible.