Editorial

15:40 JST, May 7, 2025

There is no end to cases of bears appearing in residential areas and causing harm to people. If there is no choice but to allow hunters to fire shots, they need to pay careful attention to ensuring the safety of residents to prevent harm to them.

The revised wildlife protection and hunting law has been enacted to allow hunters to use guns to kill bears and wild boars that appear in residential areas, deeming them to be “dangerous wildlife.” The revised law allows hunters to fire their guns at the discretion of the mayor of the municipality when such animals appear in or around houses and pose a risk of harm to people.

In fiscal 2023, a record 219 people were injured by bears, six of them fatally. Of these, six were fatal. This is because population decline has affected........

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