By John Geddie and Joseph Campbell
SHIRAKAWA, Japan (Reuters) -Shiroki Mitsunari does not remember seeing bears in the picturesque Japanese mountain village of Shirakawa when he was a child.
But since a cub attacked a Spanish visitor there last month, protecting residents and the throngs of tourists who flock to his home town to see its UNESCO-listed thatched-roof cottages has been his top priority.
“There are a lot more bears coming,” said Mitsunari, 40, a local official overseeing efforts to deter bears in the village, located in a remote valley in central Japan, roughly halfway between Tokyo and Osaka. He attributed the surge to a growing bear population and a shortage of their natural food sources.
While the tourist escaped with minor injuries, authorities have captured six bears near the historic Shirakawa-go site using honey-laced traps since then, he said. Bear sightings this year have topped 100, compared to around 35 last year, he added.
Across Japan, a record 220 people have been injured in bear attacks since April, according to public broadcaster NHK. Thirteen have died, including seven last month – a peak time when bears forage intensively before hibernating.
Many attacks were in far-flung towns rarely visited by overseas travellers. But the Shirakawa incident, and sightings near tourist hotspots like Kyoto’s Arashiyama bamboo grove, show it is not a risk visitors can ignore.
US, CHINA ISSUE TRAVEL ALERTS
The United States, China and Britain last week issued travel advisories about the dangers of bear attacks in Japan.
The U.S. alert warned about attacks near populated zones, noting that a park adjacent to its consulate in the city of Sapporo was closed for two weeks following a bear sighting.
In addition to honey-laced traps, authorities in Shirakawa have also chopped down fruit trees that might draw the hungry creatures, and issued warnings to visitors to walk in groups, wear bear bells and avoid certain areas.
“When we were preparing for this trip, we saw on social media that there were a lot of Japanese news reports of bear sightings,” said Cornelia Li, a 25-year-old e-commerce industry worker from Shanghai.
“We were a little (worried),” she said after affixing a bear bell to her 4-year-old daughter’s rucksack. Her family opted to book hotels in cities rather than rural areas due to the bear risk, she said.
BARKING DRONES TO REPEL BEARS
Asiatic black bears are listed as a vulnerable species globally, but their numbers are estimated to have tripled in Japan since 2012, helped by a decline in hunting.
Experts say climate change has reduced harvests of bears’ natural food like acorns and beechnuts, while the depopulation of rural areas and the proliferation of abandoned farmland have emboldened them to seek food near human settlements.
The situation has gotten so bad in the country’s rugged north that Japan this month dispatched the army to help authorities cull bears.
In Hida city, an hour’s drive from Shirakawa, authorities are testing drones to stop bears ransacking apple and peach orchards. The drones are equipped with loudspeakers emitting the sounds of barking hunting dogs and have firecrackers attached to them for an extra scare factor.
“We needed a rapid-response measure,” said Naofumi Yoshikawa, an official at Gifu prefecture’s environmental affairs department overseeing the trial.
There have been 78 sightings in Hida city this autumn, compared to 11 last year.
FEAR ALWAYS THERE
“Working out here, that fear of bears is always there,” said Masahiko Amaki, the head of the local orchard cooperative, as the sound of a dog-barking drone rang out across the valley.
“You don’t want to get hurt. And I’ve had a few close calls myself. They glare at you, and … yes, it’s really scary.”
A sign warning of bears at the head of a walking trail near the orchard urged hikers not to trek alone.
Back in Shirakawa, Mitsunari is also worried about the children at the local school he used to attend.
The students have all been given bear bells and told to walk home in groups to deter bears that tend to be most active in the early morning or around dusk.
Before the Spanish tourist, the village’s last bear attack had been 12 years ago, and Mitsunari says he’s determined to avoid any more incidents.
“That was pretty shameful for us. We are not going to let that happen again,” he said.
(Reporting by John Geddie and Joseph Campbell in Shirakawa and Hida, Japan; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
