Japan's military deployed troops to the country's mountainous north on Wednesday to help trap bears after an urgent request from local authorities struggling to cope with a wave of attacks.
The operation began in the town of Kazuno, where residents for weeks have been told to avoid the thick forests that surround it, stay home after dark and carry bells to deter bears that might forage near their homes for food.
There have been more than 100 bear attacks with a record 12 people killed across Japan in the year since April, according to the environment ministry. Two-thirds of those deaths were in Akita prefecture, where Kazuno is located, and nearby Iwate.
"The townspeople feel the danger every day," Kazuno Mayor Shinji Sasamoto said after meeting 15 or so soldiers who rolled into town in an army truck and several jeeps, equipped with body armour and large maps.
"It has affected how people live their lives forcing them to stop going out or cancel events," Sasamoto said.
The troops will help transport, set and inspect the box traps used to capture the bears but they are culled by trained hunters with weapons more suited to that purpose.
Authorities in Akita say bear sightings have jumped six-fold this year to more than 8,000, prompting the prefecture's governor to request help from Japan's Self-Defense Forces last week.
After Kazuno, a town of around 30,000 people known for its hot springs, dramatic landscapes and variety of sweet apples, the soldiers will head for the cities of Odate and Kitaakita under an agreement due to last until the end of the month.
Attacks in supermarket, hot spring resort
Rising bear numbers, climate change-driven shifts in natural food sources and depopulation of rural areas are increasingly bringing people into contact with bears in Japan. An ageing band of hunters that authorities once relied on are overwhelmed.
In recent weeks, bears have attacked customers inside a supermarket, jumped a tourist waiting at a bus stop near a UNESCO World Heritage site and mutilated a worker at a hot spring resort. Some schools have had to temporarily close after bears were spotted wandering in and around their grounds.
Bear attacks often peak in October and November, as the animals forage intensively before winter hibernation.
Japanese black bears, common across most of the country, can weigh up to 130 kg (287 pounds). Brown bears on its northern island of Hokkaido can weigh as much as 400 kg.
It is not the first time Japan has deployed troops to assist in wildlife control.
The military provided aerial surveillance for hunts of wild deer around a decade ago and culled sea lions to protect fisheries in the 1960s. Elsewhere, the British army provided logistical support in the mass culling of animals infected with foot-and-mouth disease in 2001.
Tokyo will later this month announce a broader package of emergency measures to deal with the bear problem including recruiting more licensed hunters, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kei Sato told a press conference. In September, the government relaxed gun rules to make it easier for hunters to shoot bears in urban areas.
"As bears continue to enter populated areas in many regions and injuries from bear attacks increase daily, we absolutely cannot afford to put off bear countermeasures," he said.
