Wild black bear in Japan captured after multi-day hunt grips nation's attention

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By Joseph Campbell and Chang-Ran Kim

UTSUNOMIYA, Japan, June 9 (Reuters) - The Japanese city of Utsunomiya captured a wild black bear on Tuesday after a dramatic multi-day search ‌that gripped the nation, as local schools closed and residents were urged to stay ‌indoors.

The city closed all 94 municipal primary and middle schools for a second straight day on Tuesday after its first-ever bear sighting on ​Saturday evening. Authorities decided to keep schools closed again on Wednesday due to a report of a possible second bear roaming the city, an official said.

Bear attacks have spiked in Japan, including in urban areas, prompting the government to set up a task force this year to reduce incidents. In fiscal ‌2025, the country reported a record ⁠238 casualties, including 13 deaths, according to the environment ministry.

With about 500,000 residents, Utsunomiya, in Tochigi Prefecture, is part of the Greater Tokyo Metropolitan region, about ⁠100 km (60 miles) north of the capital.

When the bear resurfaced in a residential area early on Tuesday afternoon, police cars and other vehicles involved in the search promptly blocked off the vicinity. For more than ​an hour, ​police officers milled about, with some holding long sticks ​and others metal shields, as some ‌national broadcasters aired live footage filmed from helicopters.

The adult bear, which was estimated to weigh about 100 kg (220 lbs), was eventually shot with a tranquiliser gun, loaded onto a cage on a truck and driven away. The city has yet to decide what to do with it, an official said.

Around 100 km to the northeast, Iwaki, in Fukushima Prefecture, also suspended classes at three schools on ‌Tuesday in a neighbourhood where a black bear was spotted ​a day earlier.

Last week, a bear attack in Fukushima city ​left at least four people injured, with ​security footage in one incident showing the animal chasing a man and ‌throwing him to the ground.

Asiatic black bears are ​listed as a vulnerable ​species globally, but their numbers are estimated to have tripled in Japan since 2012, aided by a decline in hunting.

Experts say climate change has reduced harvests of natural bear food ​like acorns and beechnuts, while the ‌depopulation of rural areas and the proliferation of abandoned farmland have emboldened them to ​seek nourishment near human settlements.

(Reporting by Joseph Campbell, Kim Kyung-hoon, Chang-Ran Kim and Tom ​Bateman; Editing by Kate Mayberry and Thomas Derpinghaus)