ENVIRONMENT-JAPAN: Bear Depredations Trigger Open Season for Hunters

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, Dec 29 2006 (IPS) - As hundreds of Asiatic black bears leave their dwindling forests in search of food and threaten villagers officials see an answer in increased hunting licenses.

“The bears have caused a lot of damage to people. Hunting is the best solution at the moment,” Ryosuke Kishimoto, an official in the environmental section at Nagano prefecture, north Japan, told IPS.

Conservationists, however, say the phenomenon of bears leaving their habitats is directly linked to environmental damage and the breakdown of rural societies in Japan.

“My research has shown the recent problem caused by wild bears is the cause of a long tradition of forest depletion to make way for environmentally destructive projects. Moreover, dwindling population growth in villages that also now have squeezed financial budgets, given a host of economic issues, has resulted in a clash between wildlife conservation and development,” said Higetaka Hayashi, an ecology expert.

Hayashi is also the director of the Shinshu Black Bear Research Group, comprising wildlife lovers, hunters and experts and is one of the few specialising in bears and environment.

The group is working hard to inform people of the need to understand the movement of the wild animals rather than resorting to killing.

But the road is not easy given the increase in the number of bears now stalking villages and mauling people, leading to three fatalities and 136 injuries this year. To cope, local governments are increasing hunting licenses as a priority method to control the problem.

Kishimoto acknowledges the bears have become a problem as a result of the lack of food like acorns, berries and honey in forests.

“But,” he insists, “the time has come when we face the tough choice of either protecting people or bears.”

Conservations point out that Japan’s run-in with wild bears is the result of afforestation efforts by officials that have concentrated on trees that are not native to the area.

For example, Japanese mountains are now thick with fast growing cypress or cedar aimed at producing timber, which has decreased the original habitat of Japanese chestnut and oak trees that produce nuts and acorns – bear diet.

Rapid farming has also led to clearing of forests to make way for corn fields and fish farms built on the edges, rather than maintaining a healthy ecological balance of rich natural environment between villagers and forests.

“This haphazard planning,” says zoo expert Prof. Toshio Tsubota of Gifu University,” has enticed bears to wander out in search of these delicacies and attack people in the process.”

Experts have further shown that heavy rain and lack of forest management for decades, as Japan preferred to import low-cost timber from Asia, has also contributed to the erosion of bear habitat.

“I would seriously say the current bear threat has been caused by humans,” Hayashi explained.

Media investigations have revealed that between April and November this year almost 4,800 black bears were killed or trapped as pests in Japan.

The report, carried by the ‘Yomiuri’ newspaper, also said the bears killed were in 26 prefectures and account for 30 to 50 percent of the bear population in Japan and estimated the high numbers being killed could lead to their extinction in the near future.

Tsubota is stationed in one of Japan’s most beloved mountains, Satoyama, situated in the central part of the rolling hills of Nagano prefecture and home to the largest bear population -between 1,300 to 2,500.

More than 500 bears have been shot dead in the area this year and 140 caught and released into the wild after been subjected capture and ill-treatment that have caused the animals to fear humans, leading to more vicious attacks in the future, say experts.

Aging populations in villages as youth move to cities in search of jobs rather than labour intensive farming is another reason why bears easily attack people in rural areas.

Last week, wild bears were sighted in Okutama, an area of rolling hills that is apart of Tokyo and extremely popular with city dwellers.

“No longer can we consider the problem restricted to rural areas,” commented Koichi Nakamura, a city official.

Lack of research on development and its consequences on wild animals is a vexing problem for conservationists. ”Healthy bears are signs of pristine nature as they depend on nature for their survival. Developers must respect their role. Bears must not just be seen as pests,” said Hayashi.

Loss of natural habitat has already caused the extinction of some indigenous species such as Japanese wolves and crested ibis, a fate that conservationists say must not befall bears.