Bear attacks four people in Fukushima

Police and hunters in Fukushima, Japan are searching for a bear that attacked four people and then evaded capture by slipping out of an electronics factory, after officials described the animal as unusually adept at navigating human spaces. The Guardian reported that CCTV footage showed the bear chasing and mauling an employee in a company car park before it ran into an office building and attacked another man, with two more people injured in the sequence. Workers later saw the bear inside the factory drinking from a tap, and local officials said it appeared able to manipulate fixtures and exits.

The episode has become a small test of how Japan’s local authorities manage a rising number of encounters that are no longer confined to remote mountain edges. In the year to March, bears killed a record 13 people in Japan and there were 238 serious attacks, an all-time high, according to figures cited by the paper. The Guardian notes that rural depopulation and changing food supplies are among factors believed to be pushing bears into closer contact with people, but the immediate operational problem is more mundane: once an animal is inside a workplace with flammable materials, standard responses—firearms, heavy vehicles, mass movement of people—carry their own risks.

Fukushima City officials said the bear was shot with a tranquilliser dart, but the anaesthetic effect was unclear, and the animal showed no reaction when struck. Authorities set traps at the factory entrance and deployed personnel with tranquilliser guns, while an expanded search brought in local government officers, police, hunters and drones. A police officer reportedly saw the bear climb over a gate late on Wednesday, and officials said it apparently escaped by unlatching and opening a locked window from inside, with media images showing scratch marks around the lock.

Japan recently amended its gun laws to allow firearm discharge in residential areas during emergencies, reflecting how the state is rewriting rules around public safety as wildlife incidents rise. In this case, regular guns were not used because of the factory’s flammable materials, leaving responders to rely on darts, traps and perimeter control—methods that assume the animal behaves predictably.

As of Friday, the bear was still at large, and local schools that closed on Thursday had reopened with extra precautions, including locking ground-floor doors and windows.