Bear breaks into kitchen and ransacks refrigerator

Tokyo (AFP) – A family in northern Japan reported to police that they had found a bear in their kitchen, amid growing concern over the animals following a sharp rise in fatal attacks attributed to them.

Police in Iwate Prefecture, part of the Tohoku region, received a call on Monday evening from a family reporting that a bear had entered their home.

A local police official said the bear “opened the refrigerator and scattered its contents nearby.”

The official noted that footprints indicated the bear “had entered through a back door adjacent to the kitchen and had also rummaged through the trash bin in search of food scraps.”