General News

Akita, GSDF Agree to Deal with Record-Breaking Number of Bear Attacks in Prefecture

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:57 JST, November 5, 2025

AKITA — The Akita prefectural government and a Ground Self-Defense Force division signed an agreement on Wednesday to work together to deal with the prefecture’s bear attacks, which have caused a serious number of casualties.

Under the agreement, personnel from the GSDF’s 9th Division, which is headquartered in Aomori City, will play a supporting role for local hunters and will not shoot any bears.

The first batch of about a dozen GSDF members were dispatched to the city of Kazuno from a base in Akita City on Wednesday afternoon.

On the day, Akita Gov. Kenta Suzuki welcomed 9th Division Cmdr. Yasunori Matsunaga to his prefectural government office, where a signing ceremony was held. The agreement stipulates that the members of the division will carry cages to be used as traps; transport the hunters when they go to set up and check the cages; transport bears that have been taken and dig holes to bury any bears that have been killed; and gather necessary information.

You may also like to read

Akita Governor Asks for Troops to Capture Bears; Koizumi Says He Will Send Liaison Officer Where have bears been sighted? Where have bear attacks taken place?

The agreement will be in place through the end of November.

“We’ve found that the level of damage caused by bears [in Akita Prefecture] makes the situation critical,” Matsunaga said during the signing ceremony. “We will fulfil our mission to ensure the safety of our residents as much as possible.”

Suzuki said he asked for the support of the Self-Defense Forces “because that the lives and property of our prefecture’s people are being threatened.”

“We will make sure to support the GSDF operations,” he added.

Since the start of this fiscal year in April, four people have been killed in bear attacks in the prefecture, matching the highest-ever total for the entirety of fiscal 2016.

Sixty others have been injured. Given the pace, the total number of injuries might become the worst on record for a fiscal year, according to the prefectural government.

On Oct. 28, Suzuki visited the Defense Ministry to request that SDF personnel be dispatched to the prefecture to help deal with the bear attacks.

Preparations are underway for the division’s members to be dispatched to the cities of Odate and Kita-Akita and the town of Happo in addition to Kazuno.