Govt. Compiles Countermeasure Package for Preparations Against Bears, Aims to Pass It in Diet with Supplementary Budget

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:28 JST, November 14, 2025

The government compiled a countermeasure package on Friday to strengthen preparations for taking bears.

The package included a plan to subsidize personnel costs for municipalities that hire licensed hunters as city officials known as “government hunters.” Hunters are aging nationwide and often receive low pay, conditions identified as causes of their declining numbers.

The government plans to secure funding in the fiscal 2025 supplementary budget bill, which it aims to pass in the current Diet session.

Preparations against further bear incursions into populated areas are ongoing. These efforts include encouraging retired police officers and former Self-Defense Forces personnel who are skilled in handling firearms to obtain hunting licenses and requesting their cooperation. The government will also support the installation of traps and electric fences, as well as the collection and dissemination of bear sighting information using drones.

At a meeting of relevant ministers on bear countermeasures held at the Prime Minister’s Office on Friday morning, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara instructed the ministers that preparations for taking bears be strengthened for when they emerge from hibernation next spring. “First and foremost, it will be important to reduce the population of bears through taking them in Spring,” Kihara said.

Kihara expressed the view that the excessive bear population is leading to frequent human casualties. Regarding the taking of bears in spring, which is currently conducted in limited areas such as Hokkaido, he emphasized, “It is necessary to expand implementation areas and tackle this issue.” He also called for the creation of a “bear countermeasure road map” within this fiscal year to specify regional targets for taking bears and other details.

As part of medium- to long-term plans, beginning in fiscal 2026, the government aims to standardize methods for estimating bear population counts. It also looks to appropriately establish and manage wildlife protection areas.