Authorities in Japan suspect that a man in his 70s was killed by a bear while picking mushrooms in a forest in Iwate Prefecture, marking the latest in a growing number of deadly encounters between humans and wild bears.
Police in the northern region said the man, who had gone missing after entering the woods, was later found dead with deep scratch wounds consistent with a bear attack.
“We suspect he was attacked by a bear based on scratch marks,” a police officer told AFP on Friday.
The death brings Japan’s official toll from bear attacks for the current fiscal year, which began in April 2025, to six matching a record set in 2023, according to the Environment Ministry.
However, three suspected fatal attacks have been reported in just the past week, meaning this year could surpass previous records once investigations are completed.
In a separate incident on Wednesday, another man was found dead in a different part of Iwate Prefecture, with local broadcaster TV Iwate reporting that his head and torso had been separated.
Similarly, in Nagano Prefecture, police discovered the body of a 78-year-old man on Saturday bearing multiple claw marks.
While the causes of death are still under investigation, authorities suspect all three fatalities resulted from bear attacks.
The Environment Ministry said 103 people across Japan were injured by bears between April and September this year, one of the highest figures recorded in recent years.
Experts have attributed the increase in bear sightings and attacks to a combination of factors, including climate change and Japan’s declining rural population, which has allowed forests to expand and wild animals to roam closer to residential areas.
In one recent case, an agitated bear wandered into a supermarket in Gunma Prefecture, north of Tokyo, injuring two men and sending shoppers fleeing in panic. “Our store is near the mountains, but we’ve never had bears come this close before,” said Hiroshi Horikawa, a management official with the grocery store chain.
Last Sunday, a Spanish tourist was attacked by a bear at a bus stop in Shirakawa-go, a popular scenic village in central Japan.
Among the latest confirmed fatalities was a woman in her 70s who died last week while foraging for mushrooms with three friends in Miyagi Prefecture. One member of the group remains missing.