{"id":230071,"date":"2025-10-28T12:30:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T12:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/230071\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T12:30:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T12:30:10","slug":"japan-governor-calls-for-army-to-tackle-deadly-bear-attacks-dw-10-28-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/230071\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan governor calls for army to tackle deadly bear attacks \u2013 DW \u2013 10\/28\/2025"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The governor of Japan&#8217;s northern Akita prefecture has formally requested military support to protect residents after an unprecedented wave of fatal bear attacks.<\/p>\n<p>So far this year, 10 people have been killed in bear encounters across <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/japan\/t-19035046\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Japan<\/a>, surpassing the previous record of six fatalities set in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>What did the Akita governor say about bear attacks?<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The lives of citizens can no longer be protected without the help of the Self-Defense Forces,&#8221;\u00a0Governor Kenta Suzuki told Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>Wildlife officials say the number of incidents has sharply increased as bears stray into populated areas in search of food.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Attacks to the neck and face are extremely common,&#8221;\u00a0Suzuki said, noting that bears are now appearing not just in mountain regions but also in urban neighborhoods. He described the situation as &#8220;abnormal&#8221;\u00a0and urged immediate federal assistance.<\/p>\n<p><img data-format=\"MASTER_LANDSCAPE\" data-id=\"74521797\" data-url=\"https:\/\/static.dw.com\/image\/74521797_${formatId}.jpg\" data-aspect-ratio=\"16\/9\" alt=\"A bear and two cubs walking on a road in Shiretoko National Park in the northern Japanese town of Shari in Hokkaido\" style=\"padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; max-height: 0;\"\/>In Japan, sightings of bears going to populated areas are on the riseImage: Kyodo\/picture alliance<\/p>\n<p>Koizumi said the government would &#8220;use all available capabilities and authorities&#8221;\u00a0to restore public safety. The environment ministry confirmed the death toll and said the latest victim was killed last week in a mountain village in Akita.<\/p>\n<p>Why are there so many bear attacks in Japan?<\/p>\n<p>Experts attribute the surge in encounters to food shortages caused by <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/japans-wildlife-turns-on-the-human-population\/a-62739622\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">climate change<\/a> and Japan&#8217;s aging and\u00a0shrinking rural population, which has left fewer hunters to control bear numbers. Reports have described bears raiding homes and stores, attacking tourists, and being spotted near schools and parks.<\/p>\n<p>Japan is home to two species \u2014 the Asiatic black bear and the larger brown bear, which can weigh up to half a ton and run faster than humans. Thousands are culled each year.<\/p>\n<p>The central government has promised tougher measures to manage bear populations, while regional authorities are stepping up patrols and urging residents to stay alert as sightings continue to rise.<\/p>\n<p>Edited by: Kieran Burke<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The governor of Japan&#8217;s northern Akita prefecture has formally requested military support to protect residents after an unprecedented&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":230072,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":{"0":"post-230071","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom","11":"tag-unitedkingdom","12":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}