Latest news with #hunter
The Independent
7 days ago
- The Independent
Growing concerns for missing man amid bear hunt
A hunter is missing in Hokkaido, Japan, following a suspected bear attack, with bloodstains and a rifle found at the scene. This incident occurred shortly after Hokkaido authorities issued a top-level brown bear alert due to increased sightings and fatal attacks. The alert followed the discovery of a 52-year-old deliveryman's body with wounds consistent with a bear attack days before. Bear sightings have surged across Japan, attributed to fluctuating food sources for bears and the declining population in rural areas. In response to the rise in attacks, Japan's parliament has passed a revised law permitting "emergency shootings" of dangerous animals entering populated areas. Warnings issued after Japanese man vanishes during bear hunt
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Yahoo
Hunter Reported Missing amid Declaration of Bear Warning in Mountain Region Following Multiple Attacks
A hunter in Hokkaido, Japan, was declared missing after going out on a hunting trip on Mt. Esan His disappearance comes shortly after a brown bear was spotted in the area, and a gun believed to be his was found near bloodstains There has been a rising number of bear attacks in the area in recent yearsConcerns are rising about the welfare of a hunter who went missing in Hokkaido, Japan, only days after a brown bear was spotted in the area. A friend informed authorities that the hunter — in his 50s — never returned from his outing on Mt. Esan on Tuesday, July 15, according to reports from The Guardian, Kyodo News, and The Japan News. Per reports, a gun believed to be the man's was found near bloodstains. His disappearance comes after a large brown bear was reported in the area on Saturday, July 12. The Japan News noted that police are searching for the hunter via helicopter. In recent years, there has been an increased number of bear attacks in Japan, with a record-breaking 212 reported between April and November 2023, per The Guardian. The previous record was 158 attacks, which were recorded over the length of a full calendar year. Six of those attacks in 2023 were deadly. The latest apparent attack comes shortly after the town of Fukushima, roughly 74 miles away from where the hunter went missing, issued the region's first bear warning following a deadly attack, according to Kyodo News. Implemented in May 2022, the warning system encourages people to be extra vigilant and "not to leave food waste outside homes." The Guardian noted that there will also be round-the-clock patrols to help prevent additional attacks while the warning is in place. It will remain in effect for a month and comes after a newspaper deliveryman was killed in an apparent bear attack on July 12. A hunt is out for the bear believed to be responsible for the attack, and it will be killed if found. The man was identified as Kenju Sato, 52, per The Guardian. In April, Japan's government passed a new law that would allow "emergency shootings" of dangerous animals, such as bears, if they are coming too close to cities, according to reporting by Japan Wire. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Current laws only allow hunters to take lethal action if there is an imminent threat to humans. However, the updated provision allows for the use of guns "when it is feared [a bear] will enter a residential area or it is deemed an urgent response is necessary to prevent a human being harmed." The law, which will take effect from September, empowers local government to "restrict traffic and issue evacuation orders," per the outlet. Read the original article on People
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Grainy phone footage leads to rediscovery of lost species after 46 years
Incredible video taken by a hunter has overturned 46 years of thinking about the extinction of a flightless bird on mainland New Zealand Aotearoa. It had been thought little spotted kiwi (also known as kiwi pukupuku) only survived on small islands and protected areas where it was translocated following significant declines. Luke Hill had been part of a crew tasked with controlling tahr, an invasive species of fast-moving alpine sheep that has adapted to the rugged 46,500-hectare Adams Wilderness Area in the Southern Alps, and if numbers go unchecked, they can destroy plants that provide food and shelter for native species. Like Australia, New Zealand is overrun with feral animals, and it was the attacks from stoats, cats, and ferrets, and dogs, combined with habitat destruction, that led to the decline of the little spotted kiwi. It was close to midnight, and Hill was making his way down to camp through 'tough bush' when he spotted the rare bird. Thinking quickly, Hill whipped out his mobile phone and began to film. The video he took that night (seen below) is grainy, and it's only just possible to make out the small bird behind a fallen log. Related: Concern as rare birds retreat to mountains where giant moa became extinct There are five species of kiwi, and because Hill has a background in conservation, he immediately knew he wasn't looking at one of the common ones. But he was yet to understand the 'magnitude' of his sighting. Hill's footage contained enough information to excite the Department of Conservation, and it choppered out a ranger and his sniffer dog to the remote location. Ranger Iain Graham's mission was to catch one of the birds and extract some of its tiny feathers for DNA testing. Out in the sodden wilderness, he could hear the kiwis 'duetting', distinct calls between a male and female. But the birds proved too fast to catch. 'We were in rough terrain, in typical west coast weather, and I was running out of dry clothes,' he said. With time running out, they captured the female on their final night. He then returned with a colleague and tracked down the male, and both have been fitted with transmitters. All kiwi species are threatened with extinction. Unmanaged populations are declining by two per cent every year. Their eggs are roughly six times bigger than those laid by most birds their size. The last time a little spotted kiwi was seen on the mainland in the wild was 1978. That year, Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta became a global sensation after the release of the movie Grease, disco songs by the Bee Gees were topping the charts, and the total population of New Zealand was just over 3.1 million people. Rare animal hiding in outback photo helps solve decades-long mystery Tourists 'totally outraged' by fishing crew's confronting act at sea Emily King, the leader of the Kiwi Recovery Group, said the rediscovery this year was 'thrilling' for the conservation world. 'Despite years of targeted searching, we hadn't found them until now,' she said. 'We're grateful to the hunter for reporting this and capturing evidence. It was like finding a needle in a haystack, but he pointed us to the right patch to start searching.' Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? 🐊🦘😳 Get our new newsletter showcasing the week's best stories.
The Guardian
16-07-2025
- The Guardian
Hunter missing in Japan as spate of bear attacks triggers emergency to be declared in northern town
Authorities in Japan are searching for a hunter who went missing on a mountain in Hokkaido near where a brown bear was recently spotted, amid a spate of deadly attacks by the animals that has triggered the declaration of a bear emergency in one town. The hunter was reported missing by a friend on Mt Esan on Tuesday afternoon in the northern island of Hokkaido after he failed to return home. A rifle believed to belong to the missing man was found on the side of a mountain road, and bloodstains were discovered nearby. A large brown bear was seen near the road on Saturday. Also on Saturday, a newspaper delivery man was fatally mauled in the town of Fukushima, about 120km away. Kenju Sato, 52, was repeatedly bitten by a bear and dragged about 100 metres into bushes, where his body was found a few hours later. Neighbours who heard his cries attempted unsuccessfully to scare the creature off. Local authorities declared a month-long brown bear emergency for the town, the first of its kind to be issued, with police, fire fighters and hunters running patrols 24 hours a day. The bear in Fukushima was reported to be about 1.5 metres in length, smaller than the one spotted around Mt. Esan. Multiple bear attacks have also been reported in Japan's main island of Honshu this month. An 81-year-old woman was killed on 4 July by a black bear in Iwate prefecture in northeast Japan while two elderly women were attacked in separate incidents on Tuesday morning, one in the northern Aomori prefecture and the other near the ancient capital of Nara, hundreds of kilometres to the south. Experts have attributed the rise in attacks in recent years to a scarcity of acorns and other staples of the ursine diet – a problem some experts have attributed to the climate crisis. They have also been encouraged to travel further afield by depopulation in rural communities and the resulting increase in abandoned farmland. After a record 219 injuries and fatalities in the previous fiscal year, serious incidents fell sharply in the year to March 2025, possibly due to food being more plentiful than in previous years. However, a recent report by Tohoku's regional forest office, which covers five northern prefectures, has predicted an extremely poor harvest of beechnuts, a staple bear food, this autumn, raising fears that hunger will drive more of the animals into residential areas in search of nourishment. Authorities are urging residents in the region not to dispose of food waste outside their homes to avoid attracting the creatures. Hokkaido's Ussuri brown bears can grow up to 3 metres and exceed 500kg. The Asiatic black bears found elsewhere in Japan are rarely larger than 1.5 metres and 150kg but can still kill humans. In response to the increasing numbers of bear encounters in residential areas, the government in April relaxed its strict hunting laws to allow bears to be shot in urban areas, allowing municipalities to authorise 'emergency shootings' if there is a threat to human life.
The Guardian
16-07-2025
- The Guardian
Hunter missing in Japan as spate of bear attacks triggers emergency to be declared in northern town
Authorities in Japan are searching for a hunter who went missing on a mountain in Hokkaido near where a brown bear was recently spotted, amid a spate of deadly attacks by the animals that has triggered the declaration of a bear emergency in one town. The hunter was reported missing by a friend on Mt Esan on Tuesday afternoon in the northern island of Hokkaido after he failed to return home. A rifle believed to belong to the missing man was found on the side of a mountain road, and bloodstains were discovered nearby. A large brown bear was seen near the road on Saturday. Also on Saturday, a newspaper delivery man was fatally mauled in the town of Fukushima, about 120km away. Kenju Sato, 52, was repeatedly bitten by a bear and dragged about 100 metres into bushes, where his body was found a few hours later. Neighbours who heard his cries attempted unsuccessfully to scare the creature off. Local authorities declared a month-long brown bear emergency for the town, the first of its kind to be issued, with police, fire fighters and hunters running patrols 24 hours a day. The bear in Fukushima was reported to be about 1.5 metres in length, smaller than the one spotted around Mt. Esan. Multiple bear attacks have also been reported in Japan's main island of Honshu this month. An 81-year-old woman was killed on 4 July by a black bear in Iwate prefecture in northeast Japan while two elderly women were attacked in separate incidents on Tuesday morning, one in the northern Aomori prefecture and the other near the ancient capital of Nara, hundreds of kilometres to the south. Experts have attributed the rise in attacks in recent years to a scarcity of acorns and other staples of the ursine diet – a problem some experts have attributed to the climate crisis. They have also been encouraged to travel further afield by depopulation in rural communities and the resulting increase in abandoned farmland. After a record 219 injuries and fatalities in the previous fiscal year, serious incidents fell sharply in the year to March 2025, possibly due to food being more plentiful than in previous years. However, a recent report by Tohoku's regional forest office, which covers five northern prefectures, has predicted an extremely poor harvest of beechnuts, a staple bear food, this autumn, raising fears that hunger will drive more of the animals into residential areas in search of nourishment. Authorities are urging residents in the region not to dispose of food waste outside their homes to avoid attracting the creatures. Hokkaido's Ussuri brown bears can grow up to 3 metres and exceed 500kg. The Asiatic black bears found elsewhere in Japan are rarely larger than 1.5 metres and 150kg but can still kill humans. In response to the increasing numbers of bear encounters in residential areas, the government in April relaxed its strict hunting laws to allow bears to be shot in urban areas, allowing municipalities to authorise 'emergency shootings' if there is a threat to human life.
