A Japanese village apparently has a major bear problem. It comes as the US and other countries have issued travel advisories about the country due to the animals.
Speaking with the New York Post, Shiroki Mitsunari says that bears have become a problem for the mountain village of Shirakawa. A cub attacked a Spanish tourist just last month there. Mitsunari is doing his best to try to keep bears away from the village and protect people from further attacks.
"There are a lot more bears coming," said Mitsunari. However, Japan has a growing bear population. There's also a lack of natural resources. This makes the animals brush up against the densely populated areas. In the past month, authorities captured six bears using traps. Bear sightings have tripled in the last year for the village.
Japanese Village Has Bear Problem
Across the whole country, it's having a record bear attack year at 220. Thirteen people died due to the animals. It's got to the point where America, alongside the U.K. and China, issued travel advisories about Japan. Potential travelers are concerned about becoming targets for a bear.
"When we were preparing for this trip, we saw on social media that there were a lot of Japanese news reports of bear sightings," said Cornelia Li. "We were a little (worried)." So they went to the city over visiting the country.
Officials in Japan are testing several different ways to combat the risks of bears. This includes using drones with loudspeakers to stop the animals from approaching. They're trying to scare the animals in this way.
"We needed a rapid-response measure," said Naofumi Yoshikawa, an official at Gifu prefecture's environmental affairs department.
"Working out here, that fear of bears is always there," said Masahiko Amaki, the head of the local orchard cooperative. "You don't want to get hurt. And I've had a few close calls myself. They glare at you, and ... yes, it's really scary."
But if you're going to Japan and going to the country, just try to be careful.
