Tokyo, 19 April, /AJMEDIA/
Japan on Friday enacted a revised law to allow municipalities to authorize “emergency shootings” by hunters when dangerous animals enter populated areas amid a rising number of bear attacks.
The revision to the law on wildlife protection and management will enable a quicker and more effective response compared with current measures, which only allow dangerous animals to be shot when people are in immediate danger.
The government aims to enforce the law by fall when bears start to become active, with ordinance designating brown bears, Asian black bears and wild boars as dangerous animals subject to the emergency shooting.
Brown bears live in Hokkaido, northern Japan, while black bears live in 34 of the country’s 47 prefectures, according to the Environment Ministry.
Sightings of bears coming down to populated areas in search of food have been on the rise amid a decline in human activity in mountainous areas and an increase in abandoned farms as a result of the aging and shrinking rural population.
Under the revamped law, which cleared the House of Councillors, local governments will be able to ask hunters or officials to shoot a bear when it is feared it will enter a residential area or it is deemed an urgent response is necessary to prevent a human being harmed.
The law also states certain conditions must be met before an emergency shooting is authorized — for example, it is deemed the animal cannot be captured quickly without the use of a firearm and there is no risk of people being caught in the line of fire.
Municipal chiefs will be able to restrict traffic and issue evacuation orders to secure the safety of residents when an emergency shooting is carried out. Local governments will provide compensation if a building is damaged by bullets.
A record high 219 casualties, including six deaths, from bear attacks were reported in the country in fiscal 2023 through March 2024, according to the ministry.
