Wild Black Bears have invaded the city of Utsunomiya in northeastern Japan, causing widespread panic, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported Monday. 94 schools in the city center were temporarily closed Monday after multiple sightings of bears in the area. The city government said Monday it had captured a black bear, but schools remained closed for public safety reasons.
A notice warning against bears is posted at the entrance of a park in Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan on June 8.
A black bear was spotted outside a home about 2.5 km southeast of Utsunomiya station at 2 pm Monday, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported. After police cordoned off the scene, the local government authorized the zoo staff to use a tranquilizer gun captured an adult male Asiatic black bear. The bear is about 1 meter long and weighs 100 kilograms. It will be euthanized later.
The Utsunomiya city government said it was the first sighting of an Asian black bear in the city. The bear was found in a forest north of the city on Sunday and then moved south. The bear was spotted crossing a shopping street in the early hours of Sunday morning. The incident prompted a large number of citizens to call the police for help.
According to reports, 10 am, the local commercial street is still sparse traffic. A clothing store clerk said the capture of the bear was reassuring, but the danger had not gone away. “A lot of people have seen bears before, and I’m afraid there are others who haven’t been caught,” she added. Local authorities have urged residents to keep their doors and windows closed and not to dump rubbish at night.
Japan’s urban bear epidemic has become increasingly serious in recent years. More than 50,000 bear attacks were reported in Japan in the 2025 fiscal year (April 1 to March 31) , with 238 people injured and 13 killed, according to the Environment Ministry, the number of deaths and injuries reached a record high. There have been 1,759 bear incidents so far this fiscal year, according to the latest figures released Tuesday.
Japan’s Mainichi Shimbun newspaper said the surge in bear attacks was due to a decline in the number of hunters, a lack of food for the Bears due to crop failures caused by climate change, and the increasing hollowing out of villages and towns, bears are more likely to cross the boundaries of human settlements. (green laurel)