Japanese authorities have allowed police, starting Thursday, to shoot bears, following a series of recent deadly attacks. Since April this year, bears have killed 13 people across the country, a record number. Authorities receive daily reports of bears breaking into homes or roaming near schools, major shopping centers, and airports. Local officials told AFP that the amendment allowing the use of firearms to deal with bears came into effect on Thursday. This came after media reports that the pistols the police had been using for this purpose were not effective. The bear issue has become a crisis in Japan to the extent that the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo issued a 'wildlife hazard warning' on Wednesday, advising its citizens not to wander alone in areas where bear sightings have been reported. British authorities have also issued a similar warning for their citizens. Specialists believe the main problem lies in the sharp increase in the bear population, which is growing rapidly due to an abundance of food, as well as due to the ongoing depopulation of rural areas on the outskirts of forests and mountains, which has blurred the line between wild and residential areas.
