Bear Found in Abandoned House in Japan’s Fukushima Pref.; Police Asked Locals to Stay Indoors

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:53 JST, December 2, 2024

FUKUSHIMA — A resident of Kitakata, Fukushima Prefecture, reported to police that a bear had entered an abandoned house nearby at about 9:50 a.m. on Monday, police said.

According to the police, the bear remained in the vacant house until a local hunting club drove it out with fireworks at about 2 p.m. The bear fled into the woods behind the house, and no one was injured.

According to the Kitakata municipal government and the police, the bear was about 1 meter long. The vacant house was littered with bear feces, and it is believed that the bear had been using the house as a den for several days, eating persimmons and other fruit in the area. The municipal government and others will remove persimmons from the area and set off fireworks in the morning and evening to prevent the bear from approaching the area again.

The abandoned house is in a village in the mountains about 9 kilometers north of JR Kitakata Station. There are private homes in the vicinity and the police and the municipal government had temporarily asked residents not to leave their homes.