Regional Specialty Agriculture Suffers Increasing Damage from Bears; Farmers Struggle to Keep Hungry Wild Animals at Bay

By Morio Kodama / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

15:00 JST, January 13, 2026

Last year saw a series of bear attacks on people. At the same time, damage to specialty agricultural and livestock products also spread. While the central government has allocated funds to help farmers take measures like installing electric fences to prevent bears from entering fields, the economic impact of these animal incursions remains severe.

Bears, which should normally be hibernating at this time of year, have continued to be sighted even since the New Year began. Farmers and other affected people are worried, saying bears which have tasted their agricultural products might come back.

On the night of Oct. 24 last year, a bear was captured on surveillance cameras at an orchard in Kaminoyama, Yamagata Prefecture. It stood up on two legs and placed its front paws on a pear tree laden with fruit. However, perhaps sensing something, it looked around and then left the area.

Bears had begun appearing in the orchard around late May. At first they ate cherries, but by autumn, damage to the pears had become severe. About 4 tons of pears were damaged, leaving only about 60% of the usual annual harvest able to be shipped. Although four bears were later captured in the area surrounding the orchard, representative Yuki Naganuma remains vigilant, saying, “There might still be others out there, so we can’t let our guard down.”

At the orchard of Atsushi Saito, an apple farmer in Aomori City, branches of trees growing early-ripening “kio” variety apples were broken by bears almost daily starting around late August. By early October, damage had been done to about 2 tons of fruit and 250 trees.

Saito had to spend more than ¥3 million on measures to deal with the situation, including setting a box trap in his field, setting off firecrackers before work and purchasing an escape buggy. “This was my first experience with bear damage, and I can’t stop worrying how bad it might become,” Saito said.

Damage from bears is also affecting livestock and other animals. In Ojiya, Niigata Prefecture, nishikigoi ornamental carp — known as “swimming jewels” — were attacked by bears, which skillfully pulled down nets set up to enclose the breeding ponds. According to the city, while carp feed had been targeted before, the carp themselves had never been preyed on. Naoto Odaira, the head of the city’s nishikigoi strategy office, expressed growing concern. “They finally went after the carp,” he said.

Poultry farms have also been affected: in Oguni, Yamagata Prefecture, about 180 “Yamagata jidori” local free-range chickens were devoured, and in Odate, Akita Prefecture, about 300 Hinai jidori local free-range chickens were found dead inside a poultry house. Bear tracks were found nearby, and it is believed the startled chicks panicked, trampled each other and were crushed to death.

When the company that operates the direct-to-consumer online market platform “Tabe Choku” surveyed producers registered on its site, over 70% in the Tohoku region and over 40% in Nagano and Niigata prefectures said damage from bears had “increased compared to previous years.”

According to the Environment Ministry, the number of bears captured with the permission of the environment minister or prefectural governors for reasons such as damage to agriculture totaled a record 9,867 in fiscal 2025, though the figure is a preliminary one that only counts up to end of October.

Movements to support affected farmers are emerging. In December, major food delivery service Oisix ra daichi Inc. used apples from damaged farms at the salad bar at a restaurant affiliated with it in Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo, as part of a program to donate ¥50 per meal served. 450 meals were served over five days.

“We’d be happy if the support funds could be used for things like purchasing apple saplings,” said a company official.