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Two people in a city north of Tokyo, Japan, were injured after a bear entered a grocery store and began rummaging through food, Japanese authorities said Wednesday.
According to Japan’s national public broadcaster, NHKPolice were called at approximately 7:30 p.m. Tuesday to reports of a bear lying on top of a customer at a supermarket in the city of Numata, an area northwest of Tokyo.
The bear reportedly attacked one person in the store’s parking lot before attacking a second inside the supermarket.
Both victims suffered minor, non-life-threatening injuries to their arms and legs, NHK says.
According to the AFPThe bear was about 1.4 meters long and roamed the store’s fish and sushi selections before stomping on avocados in the fruit section.
The store manager said between 30 and 40 customers were present when the bear attack occurred.
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The store is near a mountainous area. However, the bears had never approached before, Hiroshi Horikawa, head of management planning for the supermarket chain, told AFP.
Police said the bear eventually ran away.
Reports of bear attacks in Japan, including in residential neighborhoods, have become more common in recent years due in part to declining human populations and climate change, which has impacted bears’ access to food sources and, in turn, their hibernation cycles.
In two additional bear attacks on Tuesday, a farmer was mauled by a bear in the city of Gojome in northwestern Japan. The victim, a man in his 20s, called the police, NHK says, and told authorities that a bear had bitten and scratched him on his property. He was taken to hospital and treated for minor injuries.
About an hour after the man was attacked, a bear was seen wandering through his neighbor’s yard.
Police said local officials and members of the city’s hunting association captured two bears near the homes earlier that day.
Japanese media reported Wednesday that additional police patrols had been deployed on busy commuter routes in the area where the grocery store attack occurred to ensure the safety of children on their way to school.
Authorities said a bear was found in a trap in another area of the city around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday. NHK did not specify whether the bear caught in the trap was the bear responsible for the attack on the grocery store.
Meanwhile, in another incident in Iwate, northeastern Japan, a person was found dead on a mountain on Wednesday morning.
The body reportedly had wounds resembling bear scratches and growling could be heard near where the body was found, Japanese media said.
Between April and September, 108 people in Japan were injured by bears and five died, report says infographic shared by AFP.
Bear populations are growing in Japan, home to two bear species: the Japanese black bear and the Hokkaido brown bear.
According ReutersJapanese bear populations are increasing, in part due to an aging population of professional hunters struggling to manage them, as well as broader conservation efforts that include hunting bans and a decline in rural human populations, leaving room for bears to expand their habitats.
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