Japan's Most Dangerous

[Mike Oxlong]

Bears on rampage in Japan kill two women

[floatl][/floatl]Bears killed two women after escaping from their enclosures in a park in northern Japan, police said Friday, admitting they still did not have a handle on the incident as night fell.

An unknown number of creatures were on the loose in the snow-covered Hachimantai bear park in Akita prefecture, which keeps 38 animals, most of them brown bears.

By early evening, local hunters had shot dead six of the animals, all within the gated park campus, and had recovered two bodies, thought to be those of workers at the facility, an Akita police spokesman said.

Emergency services were alerted after 10am (0100 GMT) to bear attacks in the park, which was closed to tourists for the winter.

Of the three staff who were there at the time, one man managed to escape, but one woman was known to have been badly mauled and another went missing.

Emergency workers later recovered two bodies, the police spokesman said, with local media reports saying they were those of the two female workers.

The police spokesman said the incident was not yet over...

[Sa_Race]

Pretty sure they will blame a black bear.

[wagyl]

Pretty sure they will blame a black.

Is that anything like the ones who linger around Roppongi?

It is nice to see that this report can get the name of the place correct, unlike reports using the earlier AFP feed verbatim.
Edited to add that the Daily Star Lebanon quoted in the OP (tagline: your source of news on Japan online!) seems to also use the AFP feed. Pull your finger out, Herald Sun!

All in all a sad story, and the bears' taste of freedom will be short lived and not end well. It doesn't help that I saw a fresh bear print 10 days ago....

[Coligny]

All in all a sad story, and the bears' taste of freedom will be short lived and not end well. It doesn't help that I saw a fresh bear print 10 days ago....

I'm pooping myself right now

[wagyl]

I'm pooping myself right now

You will be OK so long as you don't venture into the mountains surrounding the deep snowy valleys.

Note to self: rethink that hike tomorrow.

[Russell]

Is that anything like the ones who linger around Roppongi?

It is nice to see that this report can get the name of the place correct, unlike reports using the earlier AFP feed verbatim.
Edited to add that the Daily Star Lebanon quoted in the OP (tagline: your source of news on Japan online!) seems to also use the AFP feed. Pull your finger out, Herald Sun!

All in all a sad story, and the bears' taste of freedom will be short lived and not end well. It doesn't help that I saw a fresh bear print 10 days ago....

Probably CJ trying to scare you into submission.

[Ol Dirty Gaijin]

Is that anything like the ones who linger around Roppongi?

It is nice to see that this report can get the name of the place correct, unlike reports using the earlier AFP feed verbatim.
Edited to add that the Daily Star Lebanon quoted in the OP (tagline: your source of news on Japan online!) seems to also use the AFP feed. Pull your finger out, Herald Sun!

All in all a sad story, and the bears' taste of freedom will be short lived and not end well. It doesn't help that I saw a fresh bear print 10 days ago....

It would be a first for the Currant Bun.

[Catoneinutica]

I'm pooping myself right now

Then your hiney will be nice n' clean the next time the bears cum to your town and wanna get down:

[Coligny]

Hey, that's them BearForce1, mah favorit boyzband...

[yt]

[/yt]

[Mike Oxlong]

Love the JT headline this morning:

Rampaging bears kill 2 women workers at Akita bear park

We are in Colbert country now...

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Unbearable...

[cstaylor]

Unbearable...

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Screwed-down Hairdo again.

[Taro Toporific]

Love the JT headline this morning:
Rampaging bears kill 2 women workers at Akita bear park

[matsuki]

Bear park with bears in enclosures? Bears escape and go for a lemur snack (or two) and get gunned down within the bear park? TIJ

[Mike Oxlong]

82-year-old woman dies after apparent bear attack in Fukushima...

2 people attacked by bear in Niigata...

Harden the fuck up, Japan!

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Harden the fuck up, Japan!

Yeah...no matter what it is, just grin and bear it.

[Taro Toporific]

82-year-old woman dies after apparent bear attack in Fukushima...
2 people attacked by bear in Niigata...
Harden the fuck up, Japan!

Bear shot dead after entering school in Ishikawa
JapanToday | May 17, 2013
A bear was shot dead after it wandered into a school in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Thursday.
TV Asahi reported that the bear entered the Morimoto school building at around 7 a.m. and then ran toward the playing field...
...The bear was an adult {WTF?} male, one meter long and weighing 40 kilograms...more...

[sublight]

The last thing you might see if you get attacked by a bear.

The couple of minutes at the end are presumably what you'll see after you get shit out.

[Samurai_Jerk]

Japan bear attack: Gunma Safari Park employee killed in own car

A safari park employee in Japan has died after being attacked by a bear which had somehow climbed into her small car.

An Asian black bear was seen climbing into a vehicle at the Gunma Safari Park, north-west of Tokyo, and attacking park employee Kiyomi Saito inside the car, a local police spokesman said.

Ms Saito, 46, suffered injuries to the left side of her chest and stomach and was rushed to hospital where she was later confirmed dead, the spokesman said.

[matsuki]

That is bizzare....I've seen the aftermath of bears vs vehicles when they smell food inside..... but for it to just climb in and go after her??

[wagyl]

It is not so bizarre. The animals in these places associate humans with food. They are always a dangerous mix.

Although they are a very small minority, from what I have seen there are some tsukinowa bears which develop a taste for human flesh. Having got up close and personal with a bear trap just the other week (the target bear is well behaved but in a populated area) they are perfectly happy to get into a tight squeeze: the whole concept of "somehow climbed into her small car" is disingenuous.

[Samurai_Jerk]

According to Wikipedia Asiatic black bears are particularly aggressive towards humans. It's pretty easy for a bear to get into a car if the window is open. I've also heard they can learn to open unlocked car doors. The question is was she in an area of the park she wasn't supposed to be (or at least not supposed to be without her vehicle properly secured) or was the bear?

[wagyl]

A bit more detail for you here then, in Japanese. http://news.tbs.co.jp/newseye/tbs_newseye2846801.html

Bear was an inmate/exhibit. Deceased was a 25 year veteran ranger on patrol. Bars (that in the accompanying video look pretty useless) that were usually over the drivers side window had been dislodged, and it is thought that the bear got in through that window, according to reports.

A large proportion of these tsukinowa attacks involve bears in captivity. Maybe it is because there is more contact between bears and humans, maybe it is because of the nature of the captive condition: both "humans = food" and cabin fever. I do know that the bears that went wild (in a "Cancun" way) in Akita a few years ago had been poorly treated due to the bear park running at a loss for years. They got their payback, with two volunteer workers (ex-paid employees), who both knew the bears and who the bears knew, making a true sacrifice.

Most other cases I am aware of are as a result of bear cubs getting curious and mothers being protective (although one I know did then develop at taste for humans), or from the bears feeling that they have been surrounded by people and having no escape route, so they lash out (the bus stop attack in Norikura, Gifu side).

[matsuki]

Wow....that's much more aggressive than I thought. I've had a few trees get stripped by the local bears but never thought much of it as I've always heard the locals describe them as small and easily frightened. I've never seen one here and even my "yama otoko" buddy that spends more time in the area than I do has never seen one so I've never even thought about bear spray (probably illegal here) or a bear horn. The worst "Japan nature" I've dealt with are what you most often hear about, suzumebachi, mukade, abu, and 3 mice before I discovered the battery area in the back had 2 additional gaping holes under the battery for anything to climb on into my RV.

[wagyl]

Bear spray is perfectly legal. You only get one, close-range chance to hit the bullseye or otherwise make the bear even angrier, so I am not a fan. I have smelled bears, and seen their spoor on the track on the return journey when it wasn't there on the way out, and seen fresh prints in the spring snow, but I haven't seen one here. In my experience they want to keep away from you just as much as you want them to keep away.

[kurogane]

The ones I saw in Gifu were barely the size of a large husky, and knew enough to boogie at contact. I think Wagyl pointed out what might have happened here: over habituation and even convict rage......all conveniently topped by an open window on a ranger truck that was supposed to be caged. I wonder if they faxed or teletyped the story to the local news outlet? Fuckin Amateurs. BTW......"got in the car" sounds like he climbed in the open window enough to swat her tit off. I got buffalo'ed once like that in Jellystone up in the Tatonka fields......mostly because my ex is situationally retarded in the face of cute exotic, even deadly cute exotic

Poor kid, probably thought it was her dream job, but she was working for rank amateurs. RIP

[matsuki]

Bear spray is perfectly legal. You only get one, close-range chance to hit the bullseye or otherwise make the bear even angrier, so I am not a fan. I have smelled bears, and seen their spoor on the track on the return journey when it wasn't there on the way out, and seen fresh prints in the spring snow, but I haven't seen one here. In my experience they want to keep away from you just as much as you want them to keep away.

Good to know and agree, not what I'd reach for first. Bear horn (or just any loud noise) requires no aim. I can still see owning some bear spray here...but not for the bears

[Coligny]

I have long range wasp spray in the car (10m range) and it seems to be working so far. Never been attacked by any bears...

[matsuki]

I have long range wasp spray in the car (10m range) and it seems to be working so far. Never been attacked by any bears...

Is that the tall tall tall can? The 8M stuff I have doesn't seem to go 8M but it does send most winged blood suckers into a death dance on contact.

[wagyl]

I have long range wasp spray in the car (10m range) and it seems to be working so far. Never been attacked by any bears...

Is that the tall tall tall can? The 8M stuff I have doesn't seem to go 8M but it does send most winged blood suckers into a death dance on contact.

Wow I didn't know that insecticide worked on vampire bats.