Bears Sightings Continue Through Hibernation Season, 10,000 Cases Reported in November Alone

By Morio Kodama / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

15:48 JST, March 1, 2026

Bears sightings in areas close to human dwellings have continued even during hibernation season. Since the beginning of this year, there have been cases of bears injuring people and entering buildings.

The numbers of bear appearances reported in November and December were two to three times higher than in 2023, when the previous record number of cases was set.

Experts believe the bears have been avoiding hibernation after learning there is food available near human settlements. Local municipalities and others are on high alert against bears.

On Jan. 13 in Hanamaki, Iwate Prefecture, a 1.2-meter-long bear entered a shed for farm tools on the property of a house. A man in his 70s, a member of a local hunting association, tried to drive the bear away with fireworks but it jumped out of the shed and attacked him, causing multiple injuries including to his face. The bear was culled.

A municipal official expressed surprise, saying, “We’ve rarely seen a case in which a person is attacked by a bear near a human settlement at this time of year.”

Bears usually go into hibernation around November when there is no food available in the mountains. In years with a poor crop of acorns, a staple food for bears, they are believed to go into hibernation early in order to conserve their strength and rarely awaken until early spring.

However, last year, when the acorn harvest was especially poor in the Tohoku region, bears were seen even after the hibernation period started.

In November, 10,245 bear sightings were reported nationwide, about three times as many as in the same month of 2023 at 3,700 cases, the record high. In December, 1,721 cases were reported, more than twice as many as in the same month of 2023 at 805 cases.

Under the emergency hunting system, municipalities can permit hunters to use firearms in urban areas. From December 2025 to February 2026, the system was implemented 15 times in eight prefectures including Niigata, Iwate and Yamagata, according to the Environment Ministry.

Tomio Ikeda, 76, chairman of the Niigata prefectural hunting association, captured a bear on a persimmon tree using a tranquilizer gun in Tokamachi, Niigata Prefecture, in December. He said, “The bear kept eating as we came close to it. It seemed to have become accustomed to people.”

In the prefecture, bears sightings have not stopped despite snow continuing to fall and accumulate. In January, a bear was spotted near a house in Myoko and left partially eaten persimmons.

In Kitakata, Fukushima Prefecture, bear cubs entered houses in December and February. Since bear cubs usually move with their parents, a municipal official said, “The cubs might have become separated from their parents and did not know how to hibernate.”

Kiyoshi Yamauchi, associate professor at Iwate University who is familiar with the ecology of bears, said, “Unless waste and fruit-bearing trees in home gardens are properly cared for, bears may appear even in winter.”

Given that March is expected to be warmer than normal, he warned, “Even hibernating bears could awaken earlier than usual. There is still no food in the mountains at this time of year, so they may head straight for human settlements.”