Schools in Tokyo suburb to get bear sprays

TOKYO: A Tokyo suburb has announced an emergency spending plan to buy 700 anti-bear sprays for schools and community organisations, the local government told AFP on Wednesday, as the animals increasingly encroach into built-up areas around Japan.

Japan saw a record 13 people killed by bears last fiscal year, according to the environment ministry, and five more fatalities and 20 people injured between April 1 and May 30 this year.

Hachioji is on the outskirts of the vast Japanese capital region and at weekends draws Tokyoites to its popular hiking trails into the nearby forested mountains.

Eleven sightings or signs of bears have been reported there since April, with a motion-activated camera capturing footage of a black bear around a residence on April 29, broadcaster NHK reported.

The city will spend ¥15 million (US$93,000) on sprays, movable electric fences and devices that make high-pitched sounds, local government spokesman Ryosuke Sato told AFP.

It is also planning to draft an action plan to call in hunters and take other measures in case bears appear in local neighbourhoods.

“By closely working with police and hunters, we are drafting a manual on how to deal with bears should they come to our streets,” Sato added.

In the latest fiscal year ending in March, bear sightings nationwide topped 50,000, more than double the previous record set two years earlier, according to official data.

In recent months there has been a jump in sightings after the bears emerged from hibernation, as well as incidents of bears entering urban areas.

Earlier this month all schools closed in Utsunomiya, north of Tokyo, after a bear roamed the city and evaded dozens of police officers and hunters for four days before being captured.

Before that, another bear described as “extremely intelligent” – it opened a window and turned on a tap – attacked four people at two factories in Fukushima and remained at large for days.

National and regional governments are trying to clear bushes along riverbanks and areas between neighbourhoods and mountains, including in Hachioji, to prevent bears from coming to urban areas.