Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water…
Long-time readers of news in Japan will undoubtedly know that we have something of a bear problem. Dwindling human populations in rural areas abandoning farms and homes have allowed a growing ursine population an opportunity to roam further in search of food. As a result, people and bears are increasingly coming face to face, often with tragic results.
And yet, with the vast majority of Japan’s population residing in urban areas, most of us feel like it’s not our problem. Even as bold as they’ve been becoming, bears still tend to stick to the mountains, so as long as we stay away from those, we stay away from bears.
It’s a luxury that fishermen also once enjoyed. After all, it’s not like a bear’s going to suddenly appear out on the open sea… right?
Such a scene was only narrowly avoided when a bear was found hiding out on a fishing boat docked on the coast of Shiogama, Miyagi Prefecture. On 19 September, the one-meter-tall bear was initially spotted on the wharf but took shelter in a longline tuna fishing boat nearby when police arrived.
▼ News report on the potential stowaway bear
The boat had three crew members on board who hid inside private cabins while the animal was roaming the decks. Meanwhile, police cordoned off the area and city officials also arrived to help monitor the bear’s movements.
They planned to wait until dawn to order local hunters in to kill the bear, but at around 1 a.m. the bear evaded local law enforcement by jumping from the boat and into the sea. Authorities monitored the nearby shoreline to see where it would surface but were unable to find the animal.
Bears have shown a very strong talent for evading police cordons in the past as well. That, combined with the fact that it only appeared to be innocently roaming around without injuring anyone, made it hard to not feel a little good that the situation was resolved without any human or animal getting hurt. As such, many online comments were quick with jokes about it.
“Looks like it ‘bearly’ got away!”
“Bear has learned the unique skill: Bear Swim.”
“A bear that doesn’t swim is just an ordinary bear.”
“Imagine going to the beach and seeing a bear swim in from the sea.”
“It’s surprising how many people know bears can swim really well.”
“Maybe it just wanted to apply for a job.”
“Shark bear.”
“If that bear managed to sneak aboard while they set sail, it would have been a perfect b-movie plot.”
“Bears are everywhere!”
That last comment is probably the key takeaway from all this. With each passing year, there are fewer and fewer places in Japan where we can safely say, “Well, at least I don’t have to worry about getting attacked by a bear here.”
But it still seems as if very little is being done to address the issue. Japan’s hunters are getting older with each passing year, and few younger people are interested enough to overcome the country’s strict gun laws to take up such work. Hopefully, those in the national government nestled in a relatively bear-free part of Metropolitan Tokyo won’t choose to ignore this particular problem until it swims up and bites them in the ass.
Source: TBS News Dig, Hachima Kiko
Images: Pakutaso
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