Japanese Family Tells Police: Bear in Our Kitchen!

A family in northern Japan reported to police that a bear had entered their kitchen, amid growing concern over these animals following a sharp rise in fatal attacks attributed to them.

The Ministry of the Environment said in a statement, as reported by the Agence France-Presse (AFP) today, that bears had killed approximately five people in Japan since April 1 of last year, all in the Tohoku region of the country’s north. This follows a record 13 attacks causing injuries nationwide during the previous fiscal year. Police in Iwate Prefecture, part of the Tohoku region, received a report late Monday from a family stating that a bear had entered their home.

A local police official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said the bear “opened the refrigerator and scattered its contents nearby,” adding that footprints indicated the animal “exited through a back door adjacent to the kitchen and also rummaged through trash cans in search of food scraps.”

The incident occurred in the city of Shizukuishi, where at least four other families had reported bear intrusions since the 5th.

The past few months have seen a noticeable increase in sightings of bears emerging from hibernation, with growing numbers roaming towns and cities.

Last June, dozens of police officers, hunters, and municipal officials spent four days capturing a bear roaming in Utsunomiya, north of Tokyo, forcing authorities to close schools on a wide scale.

Prior to that, another bear, described as “highly intelligent,” attacked four people at two factories in Fukushima after breaking a window and turning on a faucet, remaining at large for days.

Scientists attribute this sharp rise in incidents to the increasing bear population, declining rural populations, and other factors, including fluctuations in the availability of the bears’ usual food sources.