Police Investigate Suspected Fatal Bear Attack in Aomori Prefecture

Authorities in Aomori Prefecture said Monday that a man found dead on a mountain that day may have been attacked by a bear. Police are still investigating the cause of the man's death, but bear bite marks had been found on his body, a local official said Tuesday.

Fatal maulings in the last three months have jumped fivefold compared to last year, according to government data. Five people have died due to bear attacks since April, according to separate statistics from the environment ministry. Publicly available ministry data, dating back to the fiscal year ending March 2018, shows that this year is the first to see more than two deaths in the period from April to June.

A record 13 people were killed by bears in Japan last year, and there has been a jump in encounters as the animals emerge hungry from hibernation. In the year to March, bear sightings nationwide topped 50,000 — more than double the previous record set two years earlier, according to official data.

Earlier this month, dozens of police officers, hunters and municipal officials were deployed in one city to catch a bear that roamed the streets for four days, forcing mass school closures. In another prefecture this month, a bear attacked four people at two factories and in a residential area, before escaping hunters.

Bear attacks have been on the rise in Japan, something scientists attribute to a spike in the animals' population and a declining number of people in rural areas.