JAPAN has become the bear attack capital of the world after a record number of fatal encounters have left humans feral and dismembered.
Ten people have been mauled to death and more than 100 injured in a horrific series of attacks across the country this year alone.
Locals and tourists have been targeted by the beasts lurking inside supermarkets, outside schools and even at bus stops.
One man even had his head torn off in a brutal attack.
The latest bear encounter took place on Friday and saw one man die and three others injured in a savage group attack.
In a mountain village in the northern Akita region, police received a report of a serious attack on a bear.
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A local police officer said he found one man dead near a farm and three others were rushed to a nearby hospital.
In another incident in the central Toyama region, a woman in her 70s was also injured in a bear attack just hours earlier.
Earlier this month, a 60-year-old man disappeared under suspicious circumstances in northern Iwate Prefecture.
Katsumi Sasazaki was cleaning an outdoor bathroom alone when he suddenly disappeared.
Investigators found human blood and bear skin at the site, a Japanese Environment Ministry official said.
Another man in his 70s had his head torn off in a sinister attack.
Police said that also in Iwate they found a local mushroom picker headless and covered in scratch marks and with his limbs dangling.
While in the central prefecture of Nagano, the body of a 78-year-old man with multiple claw marks was found in early October.
The government says it is committed to stopping so many fatal human-bear interactions.
This week, Japan’s new environment minister vowed to take tough action against roaming bears across the country.
Officials warned they have a “serious problem.”
They announced: “We are committed to further strengthening various measures, including the protection and training of government hunters and management of the bear population.”
Plans call for the deployment of specialized hunters in public areas where bears are increasingly seen.
He animals According to experts, Japanese cities are increasingly encroaching on bustling cities due to deforestation.
This means they are often forced to venture closer to built-up areas in search of food and shelter.
Others suggest that the declining population in Japan It could also be a factor that makes bears more likely to wander into areas with fewer people around.
The number of fatal attacks has skyrocketed in recent years.
A record number of attacks have been reported in each of the last two years.
The previous high was six in the year ending March 2024.
This year there have already been ten fatal attacks, with several months still to go.
More than 100 non-fatal attacks have also been reported this year alone.
Several attacks have occurred in densely populated areas.
In Numata, just north of Tokyo, a 4.5-foot adult bear entered a supermarket before unleashing an unstoppable rampage.
Footage showed the menacing beast prowling the hallways and injuring two men in their 60s and 70s.
The terrifying rise of the ‘ninja bears’
OFFICIALS are said to be investigating a group of wild bears rampaging through Japan who are feared to have acquired a taste for human flesh.
Residents of the peaceful island of Hokkaido have been dealing with fears about these “ninja bears” in recent months.
They have been attacking humans and devouring livestock in bloody attacks.
For many years, bears in Japan remained in the wild and did not interfere much with human life, except for a few rare glimpses.
However, now dozens of wild bears have gone berserk and caused widespread destruction.
Although bears largely follow a vegetarian diet, experts have begun to fear that these wild beasts have acquired a taste for meat.
It comes after several dead deer began turning up in the woods after being hunted by humans.
Their remains were dumped in the woods where bears found them.
Yasushi Fujimoto, head of a hunting organization, said: “The mountain is becoming a restaurant for bears, due to the remains left on the mountain after hunting.
“The lack of professional hunters, such as government-funded park rangers in Alaska, is a problem in controlling bear numbers.”
About 30 to 40 customers were trapped inside at the time as the bear quickly became agitated while struggling to find its way out.
On the same day, a bear who came home accompanied by a cub scratched and begged a farmer in the Iwate region.
In one of the most brutal bear attacks, New Zealand ultramarathon runner Billy Halloran, 32, had his arm completely torn off.
Billy was out running Japan when he was attacked by a pair of 60kg bears.
One of the powerful beasts lunged into the corridor and grabbed his arm in its jaws.
Billy was thrown to the ground when his arm broke in the bear’s mouth.
The bear then grabbed Billy’s calf muscle, leaving him with severe scratches and puncture wounds to his lower leg.
A few weeks earlier, a Spanish tourist was attacked by a bear at a bus stop in the town of Shirakawa-go, in central Japan.
Japan has two types of bears: Asian black bears and larger brown bears.
A recent estimate puts the number of black bears on the Japanese islands at 44,000.
The exact number of brown bears is unclear.
The recent spate of bear attacks has even forced Japanese filmmakers to postpone the release of an upcoming gory horror called Brown Bear!.
The film features scenes showing a bear “attacking and eating” humans and was initially scheduled to hit Tokyo theaters next month.
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The producers announced on Friday that the release will be delayed.
They issued a statement saying: “We take seriously the fact that there have been a number of real-life attacks.”