![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/skynews-japan-bear-utsunomiya_7268982.jpg\")
<\/p>\nJapanese authorities have captured a bear following a multi-day search that saw nearly 100 schools close.<\/p>\n
The bear was first seen on Saturday evening in a residential part of Utsunomiya, a city of half a million people, about 60 miles (100km) north of Tokyo.<\/p>\n
The adult bear, which has an estimated weight of about \u200b100kg (220lbs), was shot with a tranquilliser gun on Tuesday, loaded on to a cage on the back of a vehicle, and driven away.<\/p>\n
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Image:
\n The bear is transported after being tranquillised. Pic: AP<\/p>\n
The city has yet to decide what to do with the animal, an official said.<\/p>\n
Sightings of the bear prompted the city to shut all of its 94 primary and middle schools this week as a precaution.<\/p>\n
![\"Surveillance](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/skynews-bear-japan-utsunomiya_7268759.jpg\")
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Image:
\n Surveillance footage shows a wild bear running past bystanders in Utsunomiya. Pic: Reuters<\/p>\n
Authorities decided to keep schools closed on Wednesday due to a report \u200bof a possible second bear roaming the city, an official said.<\/p>\n
The bear was seen about 500m from a \u200bmiddle school on Monday morning and near a university campus on Tuesday, causing the cancellation of all classes.<\/p>\n
![\"Police](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/skynews-utsunomiy-bear_7268766.jpg\")
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Image:
\n Police officers search for the bear. Pic: Reuters<\/p>\n
City officials used a drone to track the animal down after the sighting.<\/p>\n
Bear attacks, including \u2060in urban areas, have increased in Japan<\/a>, prompting the government to set up a task \u200cforce this year to reduce casualties.<\/p>\n Image: The country reported a record 238 victims in the 2025 fiscal year, including 13 \u200cdeaths, according to the environment ministry.<\/p>\n Read more from Sky News: Asiatic black bears are listed as a vulnerable species worldwide, but aided by a decline in hunting their numbers are estimated to have tripled in Japan since 2012.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n \n Japan’s Environment Ministry said 13 people were killed in more than 230 attacks by bears in 2025.\n <\/p>\n When the bear was sighted on Tuesday in a residential area, police cars raced to the vicinity to block off the section of the city.<\/p>\n Image: Police officers could be seen holding long sticks and metal shields.<\/p>\n Residents were told to stay indoors while the search remained under way.<\/p>\n Depending on where the \u2060animal is found, they will decide whether to tranquilise, shoot or trap it for release, the official said.<\/p>\n Experts say climate \u2060change has reduced supply of bears’ natural food, such as acorns and beechnuts, while the depopulation of \u200brural areas has emboldened them to seek food near \u200chuman settlements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Japanese authorities have captured a bear following a multi-day search that saw nearly 100 schools close. The bear…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":632492,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":["post-632491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632491","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=632491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632491\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/632492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Pic:](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/skynews-japan-bear-utsunomiya_7268983.jpg\")
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\n Pic: AP<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n![\"Pic:](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/skynews-bear-japan-utsunomiya_7268773.jpg\")
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\n Pic: Reuters<\/p>\n