Japan sends in troops to help tackle deadly bear attacks

Japan has deployed troops to tackle a surge in bear attacks, which have killed a record number of people since April.

Most of those deaths have been in the mountainous Akita and neighbouring Iwate prefectures in the north of the country.

Soldiers have begun an operation in the town of Kazuno, where residents have been told to avoid thick forests that surround it and stay home after dark.

People have even been carrying bells to deter bears that might forage near their homes for food.

There have been more than 100 bear attacks with a record 12 people killed across Japan in the year since April, according to the environment ministry.

The troops will help transport, set and inspect the box traps, with food inside, used to capture the bears, but they are culled by trained hunters with weapons more suited to that purpose.

"The townspeople feel the danger every day," Kazuno Mayor Shinji Sasamoto said after meeting around 15 soldiers equipped with body armour.

"It has affected how people live their lives, forcing them to stop going out or cancel events," Mr Sasamoto said.

Customers attacked in supermarket

Bears have attacked customers inside a supermarket, targeted a tourist waiting at a bus stop near a UNESCO World Heritage site, and mutilated a worker at a hot spring resort in recent weeks.

Some schools have had to temporarily shut after bears were spotted wandering in and around their grounds.

Bear attacks often peak in October and November, as the animals forage intensively before winter hibernation.

Over 8,000 bear sightings

Authorities in Akita say bear sightings have jumped this year to more than 8,000, six times higher than normal, prompting the prefecture's governor to request help from Japan's Self Defence Force.

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After Kazuno, the soldiers will head for the cities of Odate and Kitaakita under an agreement due to last until the end of the month.

Rising bear numbers, climate change-driven shifts in natural food sources and depopulation of rural areas are increasingly bringing people into contact with bears in Japan.

Japanese black bears, common across most of the country, can weigh up to 130kg. Brown bears on its northern island of Hokkaido can weigh as much as 400kg.