Overview
- A black bear attacked workers at two factory compounds and a nearby residential area in Fukushima City on Tuesday, injuring three men with minor wounds and an elderly woman with moderate injuries.
- Security camera footage shows the bear chasing and knocking a young employee to the ground at a steel-works entrance, and officials reported the animal had not been caught hours later and was believed to be hiding inside a company compound surrounded by police.
- Local responses included emergency dispatches by police and fire crews and the temporary closure or shift to online classes at nearby schools while searches and containment efforts continued.
- The incident comes as Japan recorded a surge in bear activity last year, with the Environment Ministry reporting more than 230 attacks and 13 deaths in 2025 and sightings topping roughly 50,000 in the year to March.
- National authorities in March released a management roadmap that calls for systematic culling, tripling municipal bear-control staff to 2,500 and doubling traps over five years as officials say hungry bears emerging from hibernation and rural population decline have pushed animals toward towns.