Posted on 09/29/2004 1:48:01 PM PDT by harrycarey
TOKYO (AP) -- A baby bear stunned residents of a nursing home in western Japan Tuesday when it broke through the front door and pounded through the facility, police said.
There were no injuries to the five staff and some 100 elderly occupants of the home.
But the early morning intrusion followed a string of incidents in the same area earlier this month, when a bear attacked three people, injuring two, before it was shot dead.
On Tuesday, the one-metre tall bear broke through a glass door at the Jorakuen elderly home in the town of Kamiichi, about 250 kilometres west of Tokyo, a Toyama prefectural police spokesman said.
The bear, weighing about 50 kilograms, fled after a staff member shouted loudly. But it returned a few minutes later to roam inside the home, crushing plastic doors leading into the residents' rooms before leaving, the police spokesman said.
Police and local hunters were searching for the young bear.
Thirteen people have been injured in 12 bear attacks in Toyama this year, according to police. None of the injuries were life-threatening.
Brown bears are commonly spotted in Japan, especially on the northernmost main island of Hokkaido. While mostly responsible for crop damage, they have been known to attack humans and on occasion cause fatalities.
Being that Japan is an island, how did bears get there?
I would presume people brought them there, but why? Hunting (e.g., I have Red Russian boars all over my ranch.)? Zoos? Pets?
What is the story on hunting in Japan?
Sounds like they need a bear hunt in Japan.
They are probably quarreling about this omen right now. Not being racist or age-ist, it's what my old people would do if I had any left.
Bears have been in Japan for thousands of years.
Ditka?
Only way to hunt is to go with a hunter up in the north country, into the boonies away from the authorities, and ask him to let you take a couple of shots, borrowing said rifle or shotgun. Better to have it back in his hands before anyone could see, or you'd both perhaps head to the iron chateau for short spell.
Sure. I have no doubt bears have been in Japan for thousands of years --- witness the use of bear gall bladders in traditional Jap. medicine.
But the Japanese islands have been islands for 100's of thousands of years, if not a million or two.
So, how did the bears get there? I am guessing that they are escapees from farming operations (bears are farmed in China for above-mentioned gall bladders), similar to wild pigs being all over the various islands where various Polineseian (sp?) peoples have settled.
I'd say black from Zhongguo, and the brown ones from Siberia.
The Ainu were (are) big on bears. They are mostly on Hokkaido
Kodiak is an island and it has bears. Vancouver is an Island and it has bears. Like Tom Jones says, "It's not unusual".
Japanese bears are famous for their love of strained peas.
A 100 pound cub bear is doing all this? You could probably feed it blueberries right out of your hand without losing your hand.
Maui is an Island and we have BARES!!
Same way the Japanese did. On ships. The Japanese all migrated from China except for the Ainu who are a mystery. Or maybe the bears were there before humans.
I concur. I believe they are escapees from farming efforts.
Bare Beach?
I've heard of it.
Something on human migration to Japan--->
It is not known when humans first settled on the Japanese archipelago. It was long believed that there was no Paleolithic occupation in Japan, but since World War II thousands of sites have been unearthed throughout the country, yielding a wide variety of Paleolithic tools. These include both core tools, made by chipping away the surface of a stone, and flake tools, made by working with a stone flake broken off from a larger piece of stone. There is little doubt that the people who used these implements moved to Japan from the Asian continent. At one stage, land connections via what are now the Korea and Tsushima straits made immigration from the Korean peninsula possible, while another connection, via what are now the Soya and Tsugaru straits, allowed people to come in from northeastern Asia.
The Paleolithic Period in Japan is variously dated from 30,000 to 10,000 years ago, although the argument has been made for a Lower Paleolithic culture prior to 35,000 BC. Nothing certain is known of the culture of the period, though it seems likely that people lived by hunting and gathering, used fire, and made their homes either in pit-type dwellings or in caves. No bone or horn artifacts of the kind associated with this period in other areas of the world have yet been found in Japan. Since there was no knowledge whatsoever of pottery, the period is referred to as the Pre-Ceramic era.
Climatic changes help to account for the existence of a Mesolithic stage in early Japanese culture, a time when much of the abundant fauna of earlier times became depleted by the expanding human population of the archipelago. The introduction of the bow and arrow is regarded as a local response to a decrease in game available for food.
http://www.crystalinks.com/japan1.html
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.