A hiker attacked by a wild brown bear was discovered lifeless in northern Japan on Friday, officers stated, a day after the bloody encounter that reportedly noticed him dragged right into a forest.
The person was attacked whereas strolling a path on Mount Rausu on the northern island of Hokkaido on Thursday morning, an area police spokesman informed AFP.
On Friday afternoon, he was discovered and brought to a hospital the place he was formally pronounced lifeless, in response to a Hokkaido authorities official.
Hunters additionally caught and killed a bear close to the path, an official working for Shari city — the place the mountain is — informed AFP.
DNA evaluation shall be performed to find out whether or not the bear was accountable for the sufferer’s loss of life.
A pockets containing a card that bore the person’s title was discovered close to the scene of the encounter within the northeastern a part of Hokkaido, in response to media.
An Ussuri brown bear and a cub eat salmon after catching it from the seaside of Sea of Okhotsk close to the city of Rausu on Sept. 28, 2019, in Hokkaido, Japan.
Salwan Georges/The Washington Submit by way of Getty Pictures
Amongst different found objects have been a watch, a hat and what gave the impression to be tear fuel, Kyodo stated.
The variety of brown bears in Hokkaido fell year-on-year in 2023 for the primary time since 1991, in response to estimates launched this month.
There have been about 11,600 on the finish of 2023, down 500 from a 12 months earlier.
The Hokkaido authorities cited unprecedented looking of brown bears, with a file 1,804 caught within the 12 months to March 2024.
Human encounters with bears reached file ranges in Japan final 12 months, with 219 folks attacked and 6 deaths within the 12 months to April 2024.
Local weather change affecting meals sources and hibernation instances is a key issue, however as Japan’s growing older inhabitants shrinks, people are leaving rural areas, and that’s additionally leaving room for bears to maneuver in.
Japan’s authorities in February accepted a invoice permitting hunters to shoot bears in populated areas.
In December, a bear that rampaged via a Japanese grocery store for 2 days was lured out with meals coated in honey. Police stated the animal was trapped and later killed.
In 2023, hunters killed an elusive brown bear nicknamed “Ninja” in Hokkaido after it attacked at the least 66 cows, the Related Press reported. That very same 12 months, native Japanese officers and media shops reported that three bears have been euthanized after sneaking right into a tatami mat manufacturing unit within the northern a part of the nation.
Extra from CBS Information
