Bear Attacks in Japan: 4 Fatalities in 2021 in Hokkaido Prefecture/Island
AmmoLand | July 19, 2023 | Dean WeingartenOn the most northern Island of Japan, Hokkaido, enormous brown bears are thriving. The population has more than doubled to about 12,000 since 1990.
The bears are a closely related subspecies of brown/grizzly bears. Because they live in a similar environment to Kodiak Island, the bears are similar in size to the enormous Kodiak bears. The bear population in the Shirtoko National Park is said to be one of the highest concentrations of bears in the world. Because of the increasing population of bears, the number of people injured or killed by the bears has been increasing and is similar to the numbers in Alaska.
However, Alaska has about 3-4 times as many brown/grizzly bears. In fiscal year 2021, four people were killed by bears in Hokkaido. The average has been about one per year.
Man Uses Knife to Save Friends from Bear Attack in Japan
AmmoLand | November 8, 2023 | Dean Weingarten
On the morning of October 31, on the Japanese Island of Hokkaido, a man with a knife fought off a brown bear as it attacked his two companions. It seems likely the attack was prompted because the bear was defending the food cache it had made of the body of a hiker it had killed on October 29. From mainichi.jp:
SAPPORO — A man fought off a brown bear using a knife after he and two others were attacked by the animal while climbing Mount Daisengen in a Hokkaido town on the morning of Oct. 31.
Two men in their 40s suffered minor injuries including scratches on their sides and necks, as well as bites on the legs inflicted by the 1.7-meter-tall bear, but all three descended the mountain under their own power.
According to the Hokkaido Prefectural Government’s brown bear countermeasures office, the three men all reside in Hokkaido. The last person walking in a single file line was attacked by the animal at around 9:30 a.m. — some 2 1/2 hours after the three left the trailhead. Another person drove off the bear but two sustained injuries.
When the authorities investigated the site of the attack on the three hikers, they were surprised to find two bodies. They found a brown bear carcass near by, and the body of Kanato Yanaike, a 22-year-old man. From mainchi.jp:
Hokkaido Prefectural Police’s Matsumae Police Station announced on Nov. 4 that DNA analysis confirmed the body is of Kanato Yanaike, 22, who had gone missing while on a mountain climbing trip. The cause of death was hemorrhagic shock. A brown bear carcass was found near the body, and the police are investigating on the assumption that he was attacked by the bear.
