Bear stories remind me of a faded photograph that hangs in a museum in a remote corner of Switzerland. The carcass lies on the ground, flanked by the hunters who brought it down. Everyone in the village has turned out to witness the spectacle.
Right now, quite a few bear stories are coming in from Japan. On 12 October, a bear attacked a nurse, then holed up in a daycare centre near the town of Katsuyama, Fukui Prefecture. It was shot the next day. On 27 October, a female bear was shot on a patch of waste ground next to a kindergarten at Ono, a nearby town. Her two cubs were captured but died, probably of stress, before they could be released on the mountainside. Another bear was shot near Katsuyama just a few days ago. These are the stories from a single corner of just one of Honshu's 34 prefectures. They are unlikely to be isolated incidents. It was a hot, dry summer in Japan. The weather may have shrivelled the berries and nuts that the bears live on, driving them down to the valleys. A similar pattern was seen in the hot summer of 2006. That year, 4,251 bears were shot on Honshu, accounting for an estimated one-third or perhaps half of Japan’s entire population of Asian black bears. (The northern island of Hokkaido is home to a different species of bear.)
Nobody in Japan wants to extirpate the bears. They are protected by law, but may be killed if they attack or pose a threat. Unfortunately, people and bears are crossing paths ever more frequently, as unseasonable weather and changing land-use force the animals out of their usual habitats. This is a slow-moving ecological disaster with no easy answers.
It was on 1 September 1904 that Padruot Fried und Jon Sarott Bischoff, the two hunters in the photograph above, brought their quarry down to the Engadine village of Scuol. At that time, of course, they had no idea that they’d just killed Switzerland’s last native bear. How long will it be before this scene is re-enacted in Honshu?
References
Japan's black bears 'face extinction' article from the The Guardian, January 2007
In Japan's managed landscape, a struggle to save the bears: a balanced and well researched overview of the plight of Japan's black bears, by Winifred Bird, October 2009
11 comments:
This is a very convincing warning to Japan. In our local newspaper, there is a section "Kuma Mokugeki Jyoho," warning people where bears were spotted. I'm always hoping they manage to go back into the mountains before they are shot by hunters. Ono City, which is mentioned in this article, has hired a few hunters recently to shoot bears. I wonder if there's any way to publish your article here in Japan for the Japanese people to read.
From what I've heard, the other issue with the bear population is that the warmer winters have lead to a greater survival rate among the young. Whereas traditionally a mother bear might lose one or both cubs, it appears that more are surviving into their second year and beyond. Combine this with hot, dry summers and changing land-use patterns, and you have a recipe for disaster. I heard that a bear was spotted just 200m below the Kita-dake hut last year...
It's a tragedy that so little thought has been given to management of the bear population, other than eradication. 4,251 dead bears isn't a cull, it's a free-for-all massacre.
I'd give the bears less than a decade before they're driven to extinction, especially if long, hot summers are the norm and this absurd solution continues.
Reminds me of when I came down off Mt. Omine in Nara a few autumns ago and a vendor was selling bear meat to tourists. Sigh....
I still can't believe how many Japanese hikers are deathly afraid of bears. I saw a guy wearing a bear bell on a recent hike in Kyoto city! Kyoto!
Nothing like a misinformed populace
I've seen and met bears on mountains several times. I felt quite safe everytime I saw them, except once.
Once it was two cubs running up a hill. We noticed them because they dropped some small stones down the hill.
Another time a handsome black bear was trying to run away from me when I noticed. As I called him/her back, he/she sped up.
Another time, a mother bear and two cubs ran across just in front of us, several meters away.
Another time, he was looking down at us from above the mountain slope like a king of the forest. He just quietly walked away as if he saw something unexciting.
Only once, the bear and I had a close encounter, and we had to make sure that we were not enemies. He/She was in the bush, and we didn't notice each other until we got too close. He/She stopped, and I backed off looking toward his/her eyes. That was a peaceful way for both of us.
I believe black bears are basically peaceful animals. If only they have healthy forests...
Chris: interesting that cubs are now surviving longer (until they get shot, that is). Perhaps there's some hope there. Unless, of course, the whole forest is being overloaded with exploding populations of deer, monkeys etc etc - which may be the case. These animals presumably compete, in part, with the bears for food....
Wes: 10 years? That's a gloomy prognosis. Let's hope it doesn't come true.
(H)Anonymous: many thanks for sharing your bear stories. As for publishing the posting in Japan, the article is not intended in any way as a criticism of Japanese policy vis-a-vis bears. Indeed, if hotter summers are the driving force here - that's a big if, by the way, because nobody seems to have proved that - then it's more a global problem than a Japanese problem. I'm reminded of a remark by C W Nicol, to the effect that, if the bears are doing well, then the ecosystem is healthy....
What timing? I just read about the "bear crisis" in Japan while standing in line to pay for my groceries the other day.
Here on Canada's West Coast, it seems that human-bear encounters are on the rise as urban areas expand into the wilderness. There's also some evidence to suggest summers with extensive forest fires also play a role as food sources go up in smoke.
The answers, perhaps smarter urban planning, bigger swaths of protected land and better public education about how to behave in bear country.
Sean: many thanks for the Canadian perspective. Clearly food supply is the key here. But what exactly is happening in those forests? I wonder if anybody is doing some research, either in Canada or Japan ....
I get quite angry when I read of "dangerous" black bears being shot yet on average, 200 people are butchered on the roads day in, day out and everyone thinks that is an acceptable risk.
The bears have certainly come down from the mountains. Recently, a neighbour was out walking his dog when they came across a bear drinking from the spring (from which our house tap-water is drawn). The dog shot off after it, and didn't return till the next morning, somewhat battered and bloodied.
(Their dog is rather bigger and more aggressive than Hana!)
Sorry, that should be nearer 20 deaths a day on the roads - about the same as the number of deaths by bears in the last 20 years perhaps?
Hanameizan: many thanks for the bear update from (what I presume to be) the foothills of Yatsugatake. So it's not just Hokuriku that has a Bear Problem. Well, I hope that both your local bears and Hana can stay out of trouble....
I think I have heard bear stories on the news once or twice a year over the last several years. Wild bore stories come too. Where I come from, having bear and other wildlife roam into the neighbourhood is normal if you build homes up against the forest or clear habitats away for development. I think part of the problem may be a lack of modern education regarding co-existing with wildlife. A new approach to so-called management would be helpful for the bears.
Post a Comment