A person was attacked by a bear whereas utilizing a public bathroom in Japan on Friday, marking the most recent incident in a wave of bear encounters in densely populated areas.
The assault occurred within the Gunma Prefecture, close to Numata railway station, north of Tokyo, Japanese broadcaster NHK reported.
Police say the sufferer, a 69-year-old man who stays unidentified, was mauled by a 1.5-metre-long bear simply earlier than exiting the general public bathroom at about 1:30 a.m., and sustained minor accidents to his leg.
The bear fled the scene after the person started yelling and kicking his legs in self-defence, The Guardian reported.
The station the place the bear assault occurred is centrally positioned in Numata Metropolis, near houses and eating places, and just one km from town corridor constructing.
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Police stay on excessive alert within the space, the Japanese outlet wrote.
The toilet encounter got here a few month after a bear wandered right into a grocery retailer in the identical city space and reportedly attacked an individual within the parking zone earlier than mendacity on high of a buyer and ransacking the meals counter.
In accordance with AFP, the bear was roughly 1.4 metres lengthy and scoured the shop’s fish and sushi alternatives earlier than stamping on avocados within the fruit part.
In the identical week, a person was mauled to demise by a bear whereas out choosing mushrooms, and one other individual was discovered decapitated in a suspected bear assault, marking an uptick in such confrontations, Japanese officers mentioned.
In a number of different bear assaults in October, a farmer was mauled in Gojome City, northwestern Japan. The sufferer, a person in his 20s, referred to as police, NHK reported, telling authorities he had been bitten and scratched by a bear on his property. He was taken to hospital and handled for minor accidents.
Japan Floor Self-Protection Pressure members and others arrange a field entice to seize bears in Kazuno, Akita prefecture, northern Japan Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025.
Muneyoshi Someya/Kyodo Information through AP
Across the identical time, a bear attacked a Spanish vacationer at a bus cease within the Shirakawago settlement in Gifu Prefecture, the Japan Occasions mentioned.
In one other confirmed mauling fatality, a girl in her 70s died in September whereas choosing mushrooms within the Miyagi Prefecture. She was with three mates when the assault occurred, the outlet mentioned.
Stories of bear assaults in Japan, together with in residential neighbourhoods, have grow to be extra widespread in recent times, partly as a consequence of a declining human inhabitants and local weather change, which have impacted bears’ entry to meals sources and, in flip, their hibernation cycles.
13 folks have died in bear assaults in Japan for the reason that begin of April, in accordance with the surroundings ministry, with the whole variety of assaults standing at 220 — additionally a report, NHK reported, with probably the most deaths occurring within the Iwate prefecture.
Acorns and beechnuts are the first meals sources for bears. In years when these sources are scarce of their pure habitat, they’re extra more likely to enterprise into residential areas searching for meals, thereby rising the chance of human encounters.
In response to the uptick in assaults, the Japanese authorities has mobilized the navy to help native hunters in trapping bears. Armed police have additionally been permitted to shoot the animals as native looking populations decline.
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