The bear sightings had forced the closure of all 94 public primary and middle schools in a city just north of Tokyo.
A wandering bear that scared residents of a Japan ese city just north of Tokyo was captured on Tuesday after several days of panic during which nearly 100 schools were closed.
The bear was first spotted on Saturday near a park in Utsunomiya, a city north of Tokyo with a population of half a million. City officials said they received dozens of reports of bear sightings in the following days, including near a library, schools and a community center. The bear sightings had forced the closure of all 94 public primary and middle schools in the city on Monday and Tuesday.
The city issued bear warnings via social media and dispatched a public announcement vehicle, urging residents to take shelter inside buildings and vehicles if they encounter a bear, and to make sure to lock doors and windows and not to put out garbage at night. On Tuesday afternoon, the bear was found on a private property and shot by a veterinarian with a tranquilizer gun, city official Ryuhei Irie said. Nobody was injured.
City officials used a drone Tuesday to track the animal down after it was spotted earlier in the day at a university campus, causing cancellations of all classes. Police are seen at a residential area where a bear showed up in Utsunomiya, north of Tokyo, June 9, 2026. Issei Okabe, a 37-year-old house painter who lives in an apartment next to the house where the bear was caught, told AFP he was"so relieved.
" "My kid goes to the primary school nearby... and news reports said a bear appeared around there," he said. "Then I watched the news, and our house was shown ... I was so surprised. This is the first time I heard of a wild bear in Utsunomiya.
" The bear scare in Utsunomiya was the latest example of encroachment by Japan's growing bear population in areas with anin a residential area of Fukushima, in northeastern Japan, causing moderate injuries. The"extremely intelligent" bear has remained at large after apparently unlatching a window while evading capture, NHK reported. The Japanese government in March estimated the country's overall bear population at around 57,800. Officials have adopted a road map for bear population management that calls for systematic culls.
Bears are thriving thanks in part to an abundance of food — including acorns, deer and boars — under the influence of a warming climate,Neighbors raise concerns as FIFA Fan Festival road closures increase traffic
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